Vendetta
by CrystalOfEllinon
Summary: In which the Arashikage clan gets really, really, REALLY pissed off. Gratuitous violence ensues. Lots of stabbing. Don't mess with ninja families, okay? Won't end well for you. Smut will also probably happen. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Because I obviously don't have enough works in progress going at the moment, here's another one. Due to popular request, it'll be another revolving around clan relations and ninja family life. Also, if violence offends you, you will not want to read this. I cannot stress this highly enough. There will be gratuitous blood and violence in this fic. Very, very pissed ninja will vent some frustration on wholly deserving, very stupid people. People are gonna get stabbed, shot, punched, broken, kicked...yeah. Violent. Jack Inqu,, Karama9, willwrite4fics, you know what'll happen. It won't be pretty.

Oh. Smut will probably happen too. Because, as I've said before, I cannot write an SE/S fic without some sweet, sweet loving. Storm Shadow will probably get laid too. So if you don't like sex or violence, wrong fic.

Hell, if you don't like sex or violence, you probably wouldn't like about ninety percent of what I write, so what the hell are you doing reading this anyway?

Also, ten points to anyone who can guess who the 'crazy midget dictator' is. I enjoy imagining him getting stabbed by ninja. Ha.

* * *

When Snake Eyes landed his small plane and headed back into the Arashikage home and _dojo_, he didn't have to track down Tommy like he usually did upon returning from a mission.

This could be a difficult proposition, particularly if his sword brother was driving the trainees through endurance training in the forest or demonstrating stealth techniques. There was also Tommy's tendency to retreat to his private suite with Junko and Taro when he wasn't training the students, on a mission, or practicing himself. Snake Eyes didn't blame his sword brother for this…he tended to do the same thing with Shana and the twins whenever possible.

But right now Tommy was standing on the roof, watching whatever was going on in one of the outdoor training yards with some interest. Snake Eyes shinnied up a wall, caught the edge of the tiled rooftop, and sauntered up to his sword brother.

"That didn't take you long." Tommy said by way of greeting.

Snake Eyes snorted. *As much as the Pentagon was fretting over the 'dangerous situation' our dear crazy midget dictator posed, his security isn't that impressive. And apparently, his 'nuclear plan' isn't either.*

"That does not particularly surprise me." Tommy grinned. "I swear, the only reason they haven't had us assassinate him yet is because he secretly amuses the UN leaders."

Snake Eyes glanced down at the spectacle Tommy had been watching and raised an eyebrow. *Junko seems to be enjoying herself a _little _much, don't you think?*

Tommy's grin went hard. "Oh, I don't think so. One of the new students…the one from Hong Kong, goes by the name Chin …decided to let his friends know exactly what he thought she should be doing to him instead of combat training. In graphic detail. He also apparently doesn't really understand what 'the Ear that Sees' means...I was only on the other side of the training yard_._"

Snake Eyes winced. *And how did he survive long enough for her to get to him?*

"I promised her first dibs on the next one last time." Tommy was still smiling that tight, unfriendly grin. "I get him once she finishes, in the event that she leaves a limb or two unbroken."

Snake Eyes watched as the trainee in question went flying over Junko's shoulder, hit the ground with a grunt, and was promptly pounced on and wrapped up into a submission hold that he knew was just _exquisitely _painful. Junko seemed to be enjoying the pained yelps, but after a few seconds let the poor moron up just to launch him backwards another four feet with a thrust kick to the chest as soon as he staggered upright. *I somewhat doubt that will happen.*

"Me too, quite frankly." Tommy's grin softened slightly. "But then I _do _enjoy watching her beat the bad attitude out of stupid kids. Almost as good as doing it myself…and, well, the scenery is pretty good."

Snake Eyes, who counted watching Shana teach disrespectful students better manners amongst his favorite entertainments, smiled. Hell…Shana had first caught his eye when she'd easily chucked another soldier (who had, incidentally, been _twice _her size) across the training field with a really inspired combination leg sweep/hip throw.

She'd been pure violent, graceful, beautiful poetry. He still rather thought his fate had been sealed at that exact moment.

*Anyway, we've got a large sum of money being transferred into our accounts, and I'm going to go take a shower. Enjoy watching your wife kill students.*

"Always…and, by the way, tell Red thank you."

Snake Eyes raised an eyebrow. *I take it we're stuck with your little hellion right now?*

"Red agreed to keep an eye on him for the rest of the day so his mother and I could get in a little 'alone time' after she finishes breaking the trainees." Tommy sighed. "I swear, having that kid around is a more effective method of birth control than anything dreamed up by science…he _had_ to inherit my hearing. He can be dead asleep, and the _second _Junko and I start fooling around, he's calling us for _something._"

Snake Eyes snorted in a distinctly unsympathetic fashion.

"I know, I know…twins."

*I haven't slept through the night in six years, brother.*

"I keep telling you. Tranquilizer darts. Good dodging practice for them anyway. I'll keep an eye on them after they finish their drills tomorrow for you and Red." Tommy grinned.

*Shana says I'm not allowed to shoot our children. She also said to tell you that if you ever try it, she's going to make it impossible for you to have any more of your own.* Snake Eyes grinned. *Thank you.*

"Anytime." Tommy glanced down at the sparring match-slash-beatdown taking place below them. "Junko says the same thing...Ah. Looks like he's just about done for."

Snake Eyes looked down. The mouthy apprentice was now struggling to get back to his feet, which didn't seem to be cooperating very well. The young man staggered semi-upright and attempted to block the immediate strike, but missed. Junko's elbow slammed firmly into his floating ribs, bending him double. A millisecond later and the trainee's face met the ground again, courtesy of an axe kick to the spine.

"That should do it." Tommy grinned nastily.

Snake Eyes watched the kid struggle in an attempt to get his feet under him. Unfortunately, the axe kick had pretty well shut down all function below his waist, and the attempt to stand just resulted in a whimper of pain. Junko planted a foot on the back of his skull.

Snake Eyes didn't have the Ear that Sees. He did, however, have better hearing than most, and he heard what Junko said as she leaned on the trainee's head just hard enough to keep him pinned.

"I hope we've learned a little something about respect." She glowered down at the young man. "Because if you decide to proposition me again, I'll let Tommy have you…and he'd probably kick you out after he put you in the hospital."

"I would." Tommy muttered darkly. "To both."

Junko stepped back and gestured at two of the other apprentices, standing off to one side and looking rather terrified. "Drag him back to his bunk and stop looking so worried; he'll be able to walk on his own again in an hour or so."

"Yes, Ma'm." The two young men bowed _very _deeply and hoisted their fellow student to his feet. He winced painfully and was half carried and half limped back inside.

"Excellent." Tommy looked satisfied. "See you later, brother…I'm going to drag my wife back to our rooms and see if we can't make my son a brother or sister."

"I heard that." Junko's voice floated up from below them. "What if I have a headache?"

"Take some Tylenol. It's been a _week_."

Female laughter. "Just kidding, love. I'll be in bed. Hurry up."

Snake Eyes grimaced. *Thank you both for the visuals, by the way.*

Tommy snorted. "I spent _how _long sleeping across the hall from you and Red? I could hear _everything._ You can suffer a little in return."

Considering the fact that Tommy had extorted more than a few favors using that leverage, Snake Eyes rather felt that they were even. He shook his head as his sword brother hopped casually off the roof, turned, and went to _finally _clean the dried blood (not his) out of his hair.


	2. Chapter 2

Told you Storm Shadow would get laid. You're welcome, Tommy.

* * *

Two hours after his conversation with Snake Eyes on the roof, Tommy's mood had made a full recovery, going from 'murder idiot student' to 'life is pretty good.' The combination of a naked woman and his shower, and then a naked woman and his bed usually managed this.

He was fairly sure that the students would be breathing a collective sigh of relief. A Phoenix Master who'd recently gotten in some quality time with Junko was a Phoenix Master who wasn't quite as sadistic when it came to driving them through endurance training, weapon drills, stealth training, or some ungodly combination of all three. The operative word in that sentence being _quite._ Tommy firmly believed that pain was good for students, and if they couldn't deal with a little discomfort and suffering, then they shouldn't be ninja anyways.

Not a single member of the clan would ever dare remark on his and Junko's sex life out loud, of course. Except for Snake Eyes, who was after all Tommy's closest friend. Well, or Jinx, who due to her status as his baby cousin could get by with things that would earn anyone else a swift kick to the throat. (Tommy still tended to see Jinx as the five year old who used to follow him around like a particularly energetic and pugnacious puppy. This sometimes irritated her, but she wasn't above taking full advantage of the situation, either.)

Well, okay. Or Billy, who'd learned the Way of the Smartass rather well from his _sensei._ Actually, such a remark probably _would _earn Billy a foot to a particularly painful area, but this rarely fazed the man. Privately, Tommy was rather proud of his old apprentice for the willingness to suffer a bit of pain for a perfectly timed bit of smart-assed wit.

Next to him, Junko stretched languidly, doing _great _things to the scenery. She rolled over and draped herself across his chest, settling in happily and rather reminding him of a large cat. He suspected that if she could manage it, she'd actually be purring. He grinned to himself. There was really nothing else that gave a man a better ego-trip than hearing his woman screaming his name, after all.

"Happier now?" She tilted her head back to look up at him. "And you're right…a week is _way _too long to go without doing that."

"Much." Tommy curled one arm around her waist, winced, and brushed away a few errant strands of her hair that were attempting to assault his eyes. "I told Snake we'd take the twins tomorrow."

"I'm sure the students will breathe a collective sigh of relief." Junko snickered. "He _does_ get uptight when he hasn't gotten laid for awhile, doesn't he?"

Tommy snorted. "Snake Eyes is uptight as a rule of thumb, but yes. You should have seen him before he met Red…'stick up the ass' doesn't even _begin_ to cover it."

She smiled. "You know, considering the fact that most of the students think him slightly the kinder of you two, I don't know if you can talk too much. They consider you the god of sarcasm, pain and humiliation, you know."

"They'd _better._ I learned from the best, after all." He winced. "I'm actually _less _sadistic-well, slightly less sadistic-than the Hard Master was, I'll have you know. Ask Snake about it."

Junko raised her eyebrows. "I think that I am glad I never trained under the Hard Master." She suddenly grinned wickedly. "I much prefer training under _you._"

Tommy raised an eyebrow. "You have a dirty mind. You know that, don't you?"

"Oh, you like it and you know it."

He couldn't argue that. "You know, if any of the trainees made that joke, I'd be honor-bound to kill them. Actually, weren't you just destroying that hormone-driven idiot's nervous system for something pretty close to that?"

"True." She rolled upright, straddling his thighs. "But if you killed me, you'd have to raise Taro by yourself, and he's _just _like you, so I would predict the entire compound being destroyed within a week." She smiled down at him. "This is why if we have another, I wouldn't mind a girl. That way, _I'd _have someone to plot against _you _with. Though the way Taro has you wrapped around his adorable little fingers _is _pretty cute."

Tommy snorted. "If I we ever have a daughter, you do realize that I'll have to murder every eligible male within a hundred miles as soon as she gets old enough to start noticing them. I'm already going to have to help Snake do this once Terri gets older. That would-be samurai of Kimi's already has my wrath hanging over his head should he ever do anything stupid enough to upset her. It'll be _so _much work."

Junko frowned. "That's a pretty good point, actually."

"Mind you, I'm not saying I don't want a daughter." He smiled. "There is _no _way that any woman could ever torment me more than you have."

Junko went stiff, and a ghost of keenly remembered pain made her eyes go sharp for a moment. Tommy felt her hand go almost unconsciously to one of his scars, one she'd given him several years ago, on possibly one of the worst days of his life.

Oh, son of a…he hadn't meant it like that…

"Junko? Junko, I didn't mean _that._" He sat up. "Junko, look at me. You know I don't blame you for that. I've _never_ blamed you for that."

He almost sighed in relief when he felt her relax into his arms. She was still occasionally rather…well, _touchy_ was probably the best term…when reminded of her torment at the hands of the Red Hand ninja, her attempt to kill him, and her subsequent near-death experience. Not often; she was pretty much over the ordeal. But once in awhile, when something dredged up a particularly painful memory, she'd react…badly. It didn't help that he still had a few scars from the ordeal.

So did she, though most of hers weren't physical. Tommy, who had extensive experience with brainwashing, knew better than anyone that the subsequent mental anguish could last years after you'd managed to get your own mind back once more. He _should _have known better…

"It's okay." She murmured against his shoulder at last. "I know what you meant. Just…I was dreaming about it the other night, and, well..."

"I'm sorry." Great, he now felt like a _jerk._

She glanced up at him suddenly and…thank _god…_smiled. "I'm okay. I forgive you. And you're almost adorable when you're feeling guilty."

He sighed. "I feel like an idiot now. Thank you."

She patted him on the chest. "It's okay, Tommy. You didn't know." She smiled. "I think I just gave you another gray hair, so I feel we're even."

He gave her a pained look. "Silver. They're _silver. _And there _aren't that many._"

"Whatever." She giggled a little, which made him feel a _lot _better. "Touchy, are we?"

"Slightly." He shrugged, glad to have distracted her from more painful thoughts. "What can I say? Vanity is one of my favorite sins."

"Least you aren't going bald…I've seen pictures of your uncles, and I think you rather got lucky on that." She kissed him, and then abruptly settled herself across his lap and started nibbling on his earlobe. Huh. Well. She _must _not be angry with him…

Ten minutes later, just when things were starting to get _really_ interesting, someone knocked on the door. It wasn't loud, and the bedroom was towards the back of their suite, but all of the students were well familiar with their master's hearing. When the first attempt was ignored, the knock came again, louder this time. This was also ignored, and the knock was repeated a third time, and this time a voice sounded tentatively. "Phoenix Master? You've a message, sir."

Tommy cursed rather inventively.

"He's not going to leave, is he?" Junko sounded almost as irritated as he felt. "Shall I get rid of him, or will you?"

"I've got it." Tommy sighed in resignation. "I swear, between my students and my son…"

Grumbling, he rolled upright, located his pants, and stalked to the door.

It was one of the younger students but one who'd been with them for longer than most of the others, a teenaged boy of about seventeen. He'd found his way to the New York school and Tiger Claw and then to the Arashikage dojo proper a few years ago. Ninja clans had a centuries-long history of taking in orphans, which was more for practical than philanthropic reasons. The fewer blood relations someone had, the stronger their bond to the clan would be, and the less the risk of well-meaning but overly inquisitive family members poking around.

Faced with a narrow-eyed, clearly annoyed Phoenix Master, the boy gulped but stood his ground. Tommy gave him credit for bravery; he knew perfectly well that the exact glare he was leveling at the kid could (and had, many times) freeze enemy combatants in their tracks.

"There better _damn_ well be a good reason for this." He said levelly.

"A message from a General Abernathy." The trainee bowed deeply. "I apologize for the interruption, master, but the man who brought it specified that it was to be delivered to you or the Silent Master as quickly as possible, and, well, he _just_ got back..."

Tommy sighed, held out a hand, and accepted the letter. "Thank you. Dismissed."

He skimmed the contents of the envelope, which turned out to be exactly what he had suspected; a mission briefing and offer of a contract. When he read the offered fee, however, he felt his eyebrows shoot up.

That was a _lot _of zeros behind the one.

Further examination of the mission specifics explained why; the pentagon wanted no less than six agents, apparently as security; the President had decided that his personal presence was necessary to the peace talks taking place between four factions murdering each other for control of Sierra Gordo. 'Bad' didn't even _begin_ to cover the situation; four well-intentioned but ill-fated diplomats from various surrounding countries had already been shot, and there had been death threats against the President from some of the more radical groups already.

Hawk had apparently seen fit to note in the margins that in his professional opinion, his Commander in Chief was either crazy, brave, or both. The Pentagon had apparently managed to convince the President that this idea necessitated the highest-level security money could buy if he was going to insist on going through with it.

Namely, ninja.

He , Snake Eyes, and Scarlett (who wasn't really a ninja, but Tommy knew firsthand just how lethal she could be. He _still _had a scar on his shoulder from her knife) had been requested specifically. So had Kamakura and Jinx. The last agent was 'at your discretion'.

Which would probably mean Junko…Billy was due to return from a mission just about the time they should be leaving for this one, and he and Snake always made an effort to give everyone a little downtime between assignments. T'jbang should turn back up in the next few days too, but again, he'd earned himself some rest before being sent out again.

"What was it?" Junko swiped the paper from him as soon as he was back in the bedroom. "South America…that is a _lot_ of money."

"I don't like it." He was frowning. "And I don't care about the money. It won't leave anyone but Billy and maybe Tjbang here."

Junko eyed him keenly. "But you're still going to take it, aren't you?"

Tommy sighed. "If it was _anything _else, and _anyone _else was asking…"  
Junko patted him on the shoulder. "I know. It will only be for…" She glanced at the briefing again. "Two days. Do you honestly think Snake and Shana could let this go even if you were willing to anyway? They're both still soldiers at heart. And your guilt complex wouldn't let you turn this one down anyways. Billy's a good man, so is T'jbang, and the older students can help them keep the younger ones in line for two days."

"It's not the students I'm worried about." But she was right…the woman always _had _been able to more or less read his mind.

She set the envelope and papers aside, planted a hand on his chest, and shoved him backwards onto the bed. "Taro will be fine…to tell the truth, I'll be more worried about Billy and Tjbang. It's not for another week anyway. And if you _don't _take this contract, and the President of the United States gets shot, you _will _blame yourself, and I _will _have to hear about it for the rest of my life." She slid onto the bed next to him. "So you _are _taking it."

He raised an eyebrow. "I sometimes wonder why I even pretend to run this place."

She shrugged innocently. "I'm just saying out loud what you were already thinking. I _know_ you, Tommy."

He smiled despite himself. "Fair enough." He abruptly rolled over, pinning her easily. Of course, she wasn't exactly struggling. "Now, I believe you'd just made me a few rather interesting promises before we were interrupted…"


	3. Chapter 3

_Kendo_ is the art of Japanese sword fighting, and is totally awesome.

_Iado_ is the art of drawing the katana, and is still pretty cool, though as my _sensei_ once said, "Damn moronic to broadcast the fact that you're about to try and kill someone. You might actually give them a fair chance."

My _sensei_ completely kicks ass.

* * *

Snake Eyes had been through a hell of a lot in his life. He'd once feared himself unlucky, cursed to bring misfortune and death to everyone he cared about. His name, though he hadn't originally earned it because of his bad luck, was a rather bitter source of comfort through the deaths of his family, his master, and the seeming betrayal by his sword brother. Might as well label yourself ill-luck; warn people before they got too close.

Then he'd met Shana O'Hara. Of course, he'd at first worried that his bad luck would bring her harm, too…and when a helicopter had gone down in flames, he'd been flat-out terrified for her, and pretty much convinced that it was his fault, somehow

But she'd been fine. He'd been the only one hurt, and for a long time, lying in that burn ward, he'd alternated between trying to reason himself out of blaming her (he _was _human, after all, and it was human nature to blame _something_ for your suffering) and being terrified that she'd leave him, abandoning the relationship that was so new to both of them yet, but one he'd already known was more than just a fling.

After he'd healed somewhat and had no longer had those wonderful Tuesday mornings to look forward to (he _still _had nightmares about that) he'd pretty quickly decided that whatever good looks he might have had were a fair trade for her life, and his (rarely used anyways) voice for her stubborn insistence on staying with him. They'd been together ever since, and he never for a moment regretted his decision to stay in that helicopter, or the loss of his voice. He didn't think himself bad luck anymore, but he still went by the name he'd earned for himself in Vietnam, years ago. He hadn't used his birth name in so long that it didn't even feel like it belonged to him anymore…it belonged to those files still locked deep in the Pentagon basement, the ones labeled "Classified".

Quite frankly, he considered her his good luck charm. Through all the hell they'd been through, through all they'd seen and done with G.I. Joe, she'd always come out okay, and so had he. After they'd married (and he'd been _six hours _early for the ceremony this time), after the team had been permanently stood down, and after Tommy had convinced him to semi-permanently move to Japan as one of the masters of the clan (not that this had taken much convincing; Snake and Shana both considered the prospect of retirement to be _boring, _and they were both too young for it anyway.) she'd given him the surprise of his life.

They hadn't exactly been _trying_ for children, but, well…they hadn't really been trying very hard to _prevent_ them, either. And since twins ran in both of their families, they probably shouldn't have been quite as surprised as they had been when they figured out that they were getting two for the price of one.

(Though Snake Eyes had gloated to himself, just a little bit. Again, he _was_ human, and he was a functioning male, and just because he was a ninja didn't mean that he was immune to indulging in a little private smirking over the ego-boosting fact that he could obviously get his wife pregnant twice, with one try. He did not, of course, let on about this to _anyone._)

Terry and Sean (after his sister and Shana's younger brother) were undoubtedly the best thing that had ever happened to him. Shana often said (usually while smiling, though, so he figured that it was okay) that he spoiled them rotten. This was, he knew, completely true...as much as was possible when you were also training them as ninja, anyways. Considering the fact that he really hadn't ever thought that he'd have the opportunity to _have _kids, he figured he was entitled.

So yes, he adored his offspring. But it was pretty damn nice once in awhile to get some one-on-one, mommy-and-daddy time too. Tommy was as good as his word; he collected the twins in the morning, and herded them out to the training yard, leaving Snake and Scarlett to themselves.

Which led to the current, entirely satisfactory situation; lounging in bed, the remains of a late lunch that Snake had taken enough time to go and bring back sitting on the bedside table, Shana using his shoulder as a pillow as they attempted to figure out just what the hell was going on in the movie she'd selected. Lots of stabbing, that was for sure, but exactly _why_ the protagonist seemed to deem it necessary to decapitate everyone who looked at her sideways was a mystery.

To be fair, this was entirely their fault. The first hour of the movie had been pretty much completely ignored in favor of other, much more interesting activities. They _could _have rewound, but the remote was all the way on the foot of the bed, and shifting Scarlett off of him long enough to retrieve it wasn't high on Snake Eyes' list of priorities right now. Shana didn't seem to have any intention of moving, either.

She raised her eyebrows as the heroine of the movie pulled off a particularly acrobatic stunt. "I have never actually seen someone balance on a sword blade, you know. You think you could pull it off?"

Snake considered, and shifted her slightly to free his arm enough to sign. *So long as it's on the blunt edge, I'll give it a shot.*

She snorted. "What? Can't turn your skin to stone? Not much of a ninja, Snake."

He smiled. *You want to try it?*

"Nope. _Gaijin. _No tattoo on my arm, remember?"

*Right. Sorry.* Snake Eyes paused. *To be fair, pretty much all of the other clans consider you ninja, according to Tommy.*

Scarlett grinned. "I like to think I've kicked enough ninja in the teeth over the years to earn a _little_ respect." She snuggled in a little closer to his side. "You know, I sometimes wonder what my life would be like if I'd never met you."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Boring." She answered the unspoken question. "Very, very boring."

*Glad you have _some_ reason to stick around, then.*

"Well, your ass doesn't hurt either."

He shook with silent laughter.

It was several hours before Snake wandered outside, intending to track down Tommy and see if his sword brother would be game for a little practice sparring. Tommy was still the only one who could offer him a real challenge; Snake knew that his sword brother considered him pretty much the only sparring partner where victory was in doubt.

He found his sword brother scowling at a dozen students drilling sword forms. Kamakura was ostensibly the one currently teaching basic sword skills, but Snake had apparently happened along during a little snag in the class.

One of the students-a man of perhaps twenty, and dear god had he looked _that_ young when he'd shipped out to 'nam? The boy looked like he was barely old enough to shave yet- was looking distinctly nervous but was actually daring to argue with Tommy about something. The boy was one of the ones recruited from mainstream martial art schools, and if Snake Eyes remembered correctly, this particular one had come from a _kendo _school, and also had a wall of trophies in _iado._ It was this latter discipline that was apparently causing the current conflict. Snake Eyes, amused, crossed his arms and waited for the inevitable verbal evisceration and physical beatdown.

"I am just asking, Phoenix Master." The young man bowed. "Drawing the sword is as much an art as using it, yet I am being reprimanded for attempting an elegant draw..."

"You are not a samurai." Tommy cut the student off short. Snake Eyes' sword brother crossed his arms, glaring irritably at the young man. "I don't give a damn if the angle of your wrist is perfect or your sword sheath is at the properly aggressive angle when you're drawing your weapon."

"But..."

Tommy raised his eyebrows. "The highly formalized movements of an _iado _draw developed amongst the samurai class to signal their intent to violence and offer their opponents a chance at a fair fight. We are _not samurai._ We do _not _offer our opponents a fair fight, and in fact you will be expected to do everything in your power to make a fight as _unfair_ as possible. The _only _thing that I care about when it comes to drawing your weapon is that you get it out and into your opponent before he has a chance to hurt _you._"

"Yes, Master."

Tommy narrowed his eyes. "Get over here. Face me."

It was with extreme reluctance that the student complied. Tommy eyed him. "When Kamakura gives the signal, I want you to draw on me. Understood?"

"Yes, Master." The young man looked rather as if he was expecting to get decapitated.

"Kamakura, call it."

Kamakura was actually smiling. "_Now."_

There was a metallic hiss of metal rasping against wood, an almost-invisible flash of movement, and then both men went still.

Tommy's sword was _just_ touching the young man's throat. The student's own sword was only halfway out of the sheath. Tommy was eyeing the young man hard.

"Don't move." He instructed. He glanced over at the rest of the students. "Now, a few questions for the rest of you, just to see if you've learned anything. One of us just looked very pretty while drawing his weapon, and no doubt would have won a nice shiny trophy from a panel of judges. Care to point out who?"

"Haru, Phoenix Master."

"Exactly right. One of us is also dead. Which one of us is still alive, and not only alive but without a scratch on him?"

"You, Phoenix Master."

"Oh, well done." Tommy raised the tip of his sword just a _little _bit. "And I assure you, the one is directly related to the other. When you are in a fight, the _only_ thing that matters is killing your enemy as quickly as you possibly can. Musashi said it best; "In battle, your only concern is cutting your enemy." Worrying about anything else will get you killed very quickly, and I guarantee you that your enemy is not going to care how good your draw looked when he killed you. So get your weapon out and into your enemy before he gets _his_ out and into you. We aren't tournament fighting here. Am I perfectly clear on this?"

Haru swallowed...carefully. "Yes, Phoenix Master. I apologize for my impudence."

"I'm sure you are. Finish up with him, Kamakura. He's _mine_ tomorrow." Tommy slid his _ninjato_ away and smiled at the young man. "We'll get you over that bad habit, even if I have to kill you to do it."

A convulsive gulp. "I thank you for the lesson, Phoenix Master."

Tommy turned and stalked over to Snake. "Brother, next time I'm looking at recruiting students, if any of them have _iado_ anywhere on their resume', and I even _consider_ them, please hit me. I prefer teaching them from scratch over breaking bad habits."

*To be fair, once he actually draws he's a damn good swordsman.* Snake Eyes pointed out. *And you recruited him because of his _kendo_ skills, yes?*

"True. Still."

*I promise.*

"Thank you." Tommy leaned against the wall and watched the careful sparring. "We got a letter from Hawk."

Snake Eyes raised an eyebrow.

"He wants six of us. South America, as security for a Presidential visit to Sierra Gordo."

*When?*

"We'd have to leave in six days. Hawk requested me, you, Red, and Kamakura and Kimi by name...Billy and T'jbang will be back by then, but I really hate to send them right back out again, so the last one would probably have to be Junko."

Snake Eyes frowned. *That would only leave _maybe _two agents here.* Generally, there were at _least _four full agents and preferably one master at the compound at all times. This was purely a security measure; the Arashikage had a long list of enemies, but few of these would dare actually mess with the clan. Most people liked their internal organs to _stay_ internal, after all.

"I know. I don't like it."

Snake Eyes sighed. *It's _Hawk._ And the President. We really don't have much choice, do we?*

"Not really." Tommy grimaced. "It's only for two days, but I still don't like it."

The idea of leaving Terri and Sean without either him or Shana around for two days wasn't exactly settling well with Snake, either. He frowned and shook his head. *I'm going to be twitchy the entire time.*

"Agreed." Tommy sighed. "Junko says they'll be fine here, but you _know_ how much I hate leaving Taro, even when _Junko_ is here. And she's probably stricter with him than I am."

Snake Eyes smiled slightly. Tommy absolutely doted on his son; it was common knowledge amongst the Arashikage. Taro was also _completely_ a daddy's boy, which Shana actually thought was pretty adorable.

"I know...I'm being unreasonable." Tommy sighed again. "Billy and T'jbang are good agents...they'll be fine." Tommy suddenly glanced at him. "I need to unwind...Go grab a sword."

Snake Eyes, more than willing to be distracted from the issue of the week-distant mission, did so.


	4. Chapter 4

Four days later, Billy was eying his old master with some trepidation.

William Kessler had not by any means had a normal life. His biological father, after all, was possibly the most prolific terrorist leader in the last fifty years and had been responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people. A series of events that no preteen boy should have seen had led to him being rescued and taken in by an honest-to-god ninja master.

Billy had pretty much come to regard Tomisaburo Arashikage (anglicized to Thomas S. on his enlistment papers, in Storm Shadow's own words "Because I'd rather not spend all of my time correcting pronunciation, that's why.") as more of a father figure than the man who'd actually lent the DNA to his conception. A father figure with an inordinate fondness for driving you through sword _kata,_ climbing drills, endurance training, and stealth training until you wondered if death would be less painful, but still.

And, well, all of that just-this-side-of-textbook sadism that Storm Shadow had called 'training' had made him, if Billy did say so himself, pretty damn awesome. He might have only half of the usual complement of eyes, and one of his legs might be more titanium than flesh and bone, but he'd never let that slow him down.

Quite frankly, he kind of liked the eyepatch. Roguish, that was the word…and women seemed to think that it lent him an aura of mystery and danger, which Billy was not too proud to take advantage of on occasion. And the leg? Well, watching enemy combatants attempt knee breaks or decapitation only to end up breaking their own feet or swords just _never _got old. Take the mission he'd just returned from; some genius drug smuggler flunky had thought he'd had some pretty good kung-fu skills, and had figured that, hey, if the ninja is leaving that leg open it couldn't _possibly _be a trap, and I'm totally going to attempt a shin strike.

One broken femur later, and genius-boy had learned (too late) one of the first rules of combat; the obvious strike on a skilled opponent is _always_ a trap.

As far as he was concerned, however, facing down an entire clan of pissed-off Red Hand ninja was a _lot _easier than the current assignment that his old _sensei_, the legendary Phoenix Master, was giving him.

"Taro _and_ the twins, _sensei?"_ He asked, just for clarification in case he'd heard wrong.

"Just for two days." Storm Shadow looked…amused? Yes, that was definitely amusement at Billy's current facial expression. "T'jbang should be back tomorrow, so you'll have him to help you with the students and the children. I should think that between the two of you, you should be able to keep them from burning the place to the ground."

Seeing that Taro, at all of four years old, was already developing the same sarcastic sense of humor, unearthly intensity, and outright glee when he managed to get his hands on sharp objects that marked his father, Billy wasn't so sure about this. The twins…well, they were very definitely Snake Eyes' children. Both showed a talent for stealth that was downright incredible, and even only _just _having started training it was pretty apparent that both would be downright frightening with bladed weapons by the time they were old enough to earn the clan tattoo.

And they were definitely Scarlett's children too, which meant that they had a tendency towards sarcasm and a slight irreverent streak as well.

Billy hadn't really had a childhood. Dealing with kids wasn't something he was entirely comfortable with. "Phoenix Master…I'm just thinking of all of our good here…couldn't I come with you? Mistress Junko would be better…"

Storm Shadow raised an eyebrow, and Billy instantly went silent. He knew that eyebrow; it meant 'you'd better stop talking, or I'll _make _you stop talking.' "Sorry, _sensei._"

Storm looked, very deliberately, at the bandaged bullet wound on Billy's shoulder. "We do not…and you know this…send injured agents out on missions. You also haven't slept in about a week, unless I miss my guess, and you'll _barely_ be caught up by the time we have to leave. You are going to stay here."

"Yes, Phoenix Master."

Tommy almost smiled. "Taro will behave himself…I've told him that if, when I get back, I hear that he gave you _one_ problem, he's not going to get _shuriken_ lessons for a month, and if it's more than that he'll have to wait until he actually starts training."

The fact that that was a threat with real teeth when it came to his _sensei's _offspring really made Billy feel better about his own incredibly strange childhood.

He bowed. "Yes, Phoenix Master. Say hello to Hawk for me. Just how badly is every politician in Washington terrified of him by now, anyway?"

A grin. "Somewhere between 'wetting themselves' and 'oh god, have mercy'. I don't think he has too many problems with the Jugglers anymore. Something about Pentagon rumor claiming that he has a 'pet' ninja clan."

Billy snickered. "Pet? As in 'take the ninja for walkies?' Nice to know my work has fans, though."

Storm Shadow sighed and rubbed his temple. "Billy, I ought to kick you for the picture you just put in my head. Go and get some sleep before I have to knock you out."

"Yes, Phoenix Master."

* * *

T'jbang did show up the next day. Tommy filled his second cousin in on the situation; T'jbang raised an eyebrow, but simply nodded silent acceptance of the orders.

It irritated Snake Eyes to no end that T'jbang, who was perfectly capable of speaking, had for reasons never really explained taken a vow of silence. T'jbang had consented to learn ASL, which was a _lot _more efficient than his old habit of notepad and pencil, but it still irritated the Silent Master, who had _not _earned his name voluntarily, that the younger man simply refused to use his voice out of some private vow.

Tommy, after a few questions that had met with complete a complete stone-faced façade of sudden deafness, shrugged and just figured that as long as Sam worked hard and was an effective agent, he really didn't care.

The frenzy of last-minute preparation for their departure the next morning wound down around sunset, as all agents retreated to their beds to get in some pre-mission sleep, since it would be unlikely they'd get a chance again in the next few days.

Tommy was no exception. He was met at the door to his suite, however by a small, surprisingly strong blur that wrapped itself around his knees and latched on like a particularly tenacious leech.

This was not entirely unexpected. Taro was getting old enough to figure out exactly what his parents did for a living, and to realize the danger involved. Tommy pried his son off of his shins; Taro tugged insistently at one hand. Tommy obediently hoisted him up…kid was getting _heavy._

"We'll be fine, kiddo." He said before Taro could open his mouth. "We always are."

Junko stuck her head out of the bedroom. "I _just_ put him to bed…Taro, you know I told you to stay put. Daddy has a lot to do right now, sweetheart…"

"I've got it." Tommy waved a hand at her. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

Junko, looking satisfied, vanished back into their bedroom.

"Don't want you to go." Taro sounded petulant.

"I have to." Tommy headed for his son's bedroom. "You know that. I'll come back safe, buddy. I promise." He smiled. "I'll try to bring your mother back in one piece too."

"Promise?"

"Promise. And how good are you going to be for Billy and T'jbang?"

"Very." Taro scowled at him, which was rather like looking in a smaller, younger mirror. "You don't play _fair._"

"Of course I don't." Tommy grinned. "I'm a _ninja._ I _never _play fair. What have I told you about that?"

"If you win, cheating isn't wrong."

"Bingo. Here's an example; if Billy tells me that you were a very, very good boy while I was gone, I'll get you your very own set of balisong knives for your birthday."

Taro's face lit up, which actually made Tommy rather think that he'd have to get his son a set of knives, just to see that look again. "Teach me to flip them around like you can, Daddy?"

"Absolutely. See, that's called 'bribery'. Works well, doesn't it?"

"Uh huh."

Tommy pried his son off of his neck and set him down on his bed. "When I get back, I'll teach you about 'blackmail', which is even _more _fun. Night, buddy. I'll get you up so you can say goodbye before we leave."

"Okay." Taro sounded reluctant, but resigned.

Tommy retreated to his own bed; Junko was already mostly asleep, but rolled over and snuggled up to his side when he slid under the covers. He closed his eyes and was asleep in a few seconds.

* * *

Hours later, and they were standing on the concrete tarmac of a Washington airport, one that the military maintained and was far from civilian eyes.

They were taking off for South America in a few hours. There were Secret Service agents all over the place, and Tommy was taking a great deal of pleasure in the fact that the presence of five fully kitted-out ninja agents and one former black ops agent almost-ninja was making the Secret Service men and women distinctly nervous. They were waiting patiently as Air Force One was prepared for boarding; Tommy's sharp ears caught the mutter phrases "goddam creepy" and "Abernathy's spooks" as the Secret Service members slid sideways glances at them.

Hawk himself showed shortly afterwards. The general, going slightly gray at the temples now but still downright intimidating physically, grinned when he saw the motionless, silent Arashikage.

"Snake! Shana!" He shook hands enthusiastically. "Shana, I swear you don't age. How are the twins?

*They've finally started sleeping through the night.* Snake smiled. *You have no idea how happy that makes me.*

Hawk chuckled. "Storm, good to see you. Jinx, Kamakura, good to see you two haven't killed each other."

A distinctly unfeminine snort from Jinx. "He couldn't if he tried."

Kamakura raised an eyebrow. Snake Eyes gave the pair of them one look, and both automatically dipped their heads and ended the argument before it started.

"And this is…Junko, right?" Hawk grinned. "The one who managed to whip Storm?"

A wicked grin behind the black mask. "Surprisingly, general, he wasn't even that hard to housebreak."

Snorts of laughter from all of the other agents and Scarlett. Snake Eyes was shaking silently. Tommy glared at his wife. "When we get back, you're running the Long Way for that."

"Worth it." Junko was grinning.

Hawk chuckled again. "If you two need a minute, I'm sure that the Secret Service would enjoy watching a quick ninja battle. They're hyperventilating a little bit about having "hired mercenaries" closer to the President than themselves, you know. The President told them to shove it, however. He's seen your mission files. I think this lot has heard something about you being mystical half-demon death spirits or something, too. They started talking as soon as the word 'ninja' was mentioned."

Storm grinned at the nearest Secret Service agent. The man went white and backed away a few yards.

"Always good to know I have prominent fans." Tommy smirked.

Hawk grinned at the Secret Service agents. They were eyeing the general with a look of profound respect. "You know, knowing you lot-and the Joes in general-has done incredible things for my reputation. Something about how heads get dropped on my desk when we're having an issue with a rogue agent or terrorist figurehead. Anyway, the President should be here in an hour, and then you'll be leaving. You know what you're doing, so I won't waste time on the standard pre-mission rehash or warnings. Good luck."

* * *

Next chapter, things go south fast. A few of you know what's going to happen. To the rest, I simply say mwahaha. Gratuitous violence and pissed ninja are imminent.


	5. Chapter 5

_Shōfu no musuko_ translates to 'sons of whores'. I'm starting to wonder at just how many swear words I know in other languages...if I ever took a vacation overseas, I couldn't order coffee, but I could curse someone out until their ancestors curled up and died. This might not be healthy. I blame my uncle. He was in the navy. He thought it was funny to teach us bad words in other languages.

Shikoku is one of the many islands off the main island of Honshú in Japan. It's just off the southwest coast.

Takeru is after Yamato Takeru, a prince in 4th century Japan who, supposedly, was a ninja, and according to legend actually invented the _word_ ninja. I figured that, hey, if he actually _was_ a ninja, he'd probably warrant having the clan he trained with renamed after him. Particularly since one of Yamato Takeru's sons later became the goddamned Emperor of Japan, and was just ridiculously powerful and feared. _Tell_ me that that isn't because his dad was a freaking ninja. Incidentally, how much better would political campaigns be today if the candidates could deploy ninja?

I'm shutting up now.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, the mission actually went fairly smoothly.

Sure, there was the incident with the snipers...the Secret Service found most of them in their pre-speech sweep of the area. (The talks were taking place outdoors, mostly because the indoor assembly hall for the town had been torched a month prior) One particularly clever man, however, had taken advantage of a naturally hollow tree to hide himself. Unfortunately, after worming his way out on an upper branch and carefully setting up, the man also indulged in his private ritual of murmuring a prayer before taking a shot.

This was not the best idea when there was a man with the Ear that Sees hidden fifty yards away. Particularly not when the Ear that Sees was coupled with a high degree of skill in archery and a very powerful longbow. When the corpse was later examined, it was noted that the arrow that had hit the would-be sniper (directly in the left eye, incidentally) had gone completely through the skull and the point had actually emerged from the back of the head.

The Secret Service had been impressed despite themselves.

Okay, so there'd also been the little incident when two dozen men had pulled hidden handguns and attempted to introduce a little hot lead into the President's bloodstream. They seemed to think that the four Secret Service agents and the pretty red-haired woman translating for the American President would pose little problem. The ninja, none more than twenty feet away, all grinned rather happily at this.

In the resulting absolute annihilation, Snake Eyes was rather gratified to learn that his prior visit to Sierra Gordo some years back had not been forgotten amongst the local militant radicals. The screams of "Angel de la muerte!" (Literally; "Angel of Death") when he was glimpsed mid-beheading by the rest of the gunmen seemed to highly discourage a few of the men. In fact, three of the would-be assassins took to their heels, screaming prayers to no less than six saints and an assortment of deities. This did not help them outrun the bullets from Shana's sidearm. The two men who'd rushed her, assuming her an easy target, were already dead.

The Arashikage quite charitably left the last five for the Secret Service. The Secret Service agents seemed to appreciate this chance to save a little face.

After the dust settled and delegates and Presidents emerged cautiously from hiding (the American President had been unceremoniously shoved under his podium by Shana with a perfunctory "Sorry, Sir" a quarter-second before the Secret Service had formed a human shield.) it was agreed that they should maybe take this inside the slightly charred but body-free assembly hall.

Snake Eyes wasn't sure how much good the peace talks really did, and he was rather amused by the irony of having a flat-out battle _at_ a peace conference. Still, he was still a soldier at heart, and the flat out admiring thanks that all six of them were lavished with by his former Commander in Chief was more than a little gratifying. Shana, Jinx, and Kamakura also looked rather flattered.

Tommy, being Tommy, just grinned under his mask and accepted the praise as his due. Junko glanced at him, and rolled her eyes and sighed-silently-behind his back.

After that first day there weren't any more incidents. One of the Secret Service agents mentioned offhand on the morning of the second day that the local shrines to La Santa Muerte (the Lady of Death, a regional deity-saint) had experienced a remarkable increase in attendance over the last few hours, apparently because of a supposed sighting of one of her wraiths.

Snake Eyes grinned to himself at that.

Anyway, the rest of the mission was uneventful. The President was delivered, very much alive, back to Washington. They were all thanked again, payment was arranged, and Hawk saw them back to their plane (and invited them to a little get-together some six months distant; Roadblock, apparently, was inviting most of the old team to his restaurant-ranch for a weekend. This would, Snake thought, be worth it purely for the food. Roadblock could do things to a steak that would have made the cow cry for joy at being involved.)

Two hours into their return flight, with Jinx taking her turn at the controls and everyone else either dozing, sharpening blades, inspecting, cleaning, and reloading firearms, or in Tommy's case repairing his bowstring, Shana's cell phone rang.

She started up out of her nap, grabbed for it, and answered only slightly blearily. "Billy?"

Snake Eyes listened with half an ear, not taking his eyes off the edge of his sword. When Shana went utterly, utterly still, however, he looked up sharply.

Shana O'Hara didn't scare easily. None of them did. They scared _other _people; panic was something that they caused, not something they felt. But that was panic in her eyes, and her knuckles where she was gripping the arm of her chair were white.

When she spoke, every single one of his darkest nightmares was confirmed.

"_What do you mean the kids are gone?"_

His heart stopped beating. Ice clenched around his belly. Across the cabin, Tommy and Junko had both frozen in place. Tommy's bow hit the floor, forgotten, about a half a second before Storm launched himself at the phone, snatching it out of Shana's hand before she could protest.

"BILLY!" Tommy's snarl was a mix of anger and…well, Snake Eyes hadn't heard fear from his sword brother very often, but he knew it when he did. "Billy, you'd better explain _fast, _or so help me god I will murder you myself when I get back there…"

"Tommy?" Junko's voice was several octaves higher than usual. Snake Eyes' heart was pounding, his breath was coming fast and shallow, and a thousand scenarios were playing themselves out behind his eyes, each worse than the last.

Storm had gone tense, and was actually shaking slightly. He didn't answer; he just hit the 'speaker' button.

"…fifty, at least. T'jbang and I killed at least twenty, and the older students took out a few more. We crippled a few, too, but there were too many." Billy's voice sounded tortured. "Me and T'jbang both have minor injuries, six of the students died, and they took Terry, Sean, and Taro and vanished. We chased them, of course, but they had some kind of aircraft…they lost us. They said they'd send demands within a day. They're Takeru clan…I checked their tattoo."

No. Oh, god, no.

Snake Eyes felt his fingers curling hard around the hilt of the sword he was still holding.

People were going to _die._

"You said you just crippled some." Tommy's voice had gone very, very cold. "Are they still alive?"

"Yes, _sensei._"

"Get them to talk. Use whatever means you need to. But I want them alive when I get there, because I'm going to kill them myself. _Slowly._"

"Yes, _sensei._"

* * *

Snake Eyes was pretty sure that Jinx had burned out the engine of the plane beyond hope of repair by the time they finally set down, but he really couldn't care less.

T'jbang met them, white faced, sporting several very fresh bandages, and looking fairly sure that he was going to be strangled at some point in the near future. This wasn't too far out of the question; Snake Eyes was the first out of the plane, and he had the agent by the front of the _gi_ in about a quarter of a second.

T'jbang went slightly paler yet, but didn't speak. He brought his hands up to sign, but not fast enough. Snake Eyes snarled soundlessly, because if he didn't get information in the next _three seconds,_ he was going to start breaking people, and _what he wouldn't give for a voice to scream with right now._

Fortunately, he had Shana for that.

"T'jbang." Her voice was soft, but it was a tone far more terrifying than any yelling. It was the 'I'm two seconds from disemboweling you' tone, and she never failed to deliver on a threat made with that tone of voice. "So help me God, vow or not, if you don't tell me what happened in the next five seconds, I am going to rip out your voice box and make that damned vow _permanent_." Her hand joined Snake's on the poor agent's lapel. "_Where. Are. My. Babies?"_

T'jbang looked at them, at Tommy and Junko stalking his way, at Kamakura and Jinx, who were both looking _almost_ as murderous as the highly pissed parents. He opened his mouth.

"They're being held at a small compound the Takeru maintain in the mountains of Shikoku."

That was Billy's voice. They all looked up sharply. Billy was striding rapidly towards them, limping very slightly.

"You're sure?" Junko was glaring. "You're very sure? Because if you're not, and you're telling me this now, and it turns out you're wrong, I'm going to make you into a eunuch."

Billy nodded. "I'm sure...he swore it on Yamato's name." The man had a slightly savage look about him, which was rather out of place on Billy's normally good natured face. "And considering how much pain he was in...I don't think he'd have risked lying."

Tommy nodded. "If a Takeru agent swore on Yamato's name, he was probably telling the truth." He narrowed his eyes a bit more. "I'm going to ask him again, myself, just to be sure. Where are they?"

"The small training yard." Billy gave his old master an agonized sort of look. "_Sensei..._I failed you..."

"I do not have time for apologies right now." Tommy's voice was flat; he seemed to have gone past 'panic' and 'anger', right to 'stone cold, murderous rage'. "We are going to find out exactly where those _shōfu no musuko _have my son, and then we are going to kill them. You can beg for my forgiveness later."

Snake Eyes wholly agreed with his sword brother on that sentiment. He let go of T'jbang and shot off towards the small training yard.

People were going to _die._


	6. Chapter 6

"Fear is the mind-killer" is part of the Bene Gesserit litany against fear. It is, of course, from perhaps one of the greatest sci-fi epics of all time, "Dune" by Frank Herbert. (Just Dune. All sequels descend into unintelligible gibberish.) Storm Shadow has probably never read it, but he's heard sci-fi quoted over the years. I've always loved that line. It's entirely true.

Short chapter, but the next break isn't for about another three thousand or so words. I'm down with the flu from the ninth level of Hell right now, so I don't have a lot else to do but type. So some silver lining, I suppose.

* * *

Storm Shadow had, years ago, heard someone talking about fear. "Fear is the mind-killer," she'd said. She'd been quoting a book or something, but that didn't stop the words from being true. Ninja taught the same sentiment, if in different words. They also taught how to suppress it, to replace it with emotions more useful.

So while every primal instinct he had was screaming, while his heart was racing and terrible images were flashing through his imagination, he fell back on his training. He forcibly shoved back anguish and terror, and replaced it with implacable, icy anger.

So when he made it to the small training yard…actually managing to catch up with his sword brother, who was just this side of actually leaving flaming tracks…and grabbed the nearest captured agent by the throat, he knew why the man actually whimpered. Not in pain, though judging by the looks of it, his knee was broken and he had multiple injuries just barely scabbed over, none of which had been given any consideration when the man had been tied hand and foot, though the broken knee was probably more keeping him in one place than any restraints.

No, the man was actually cringing in fear because, as Tommy well knew, there was a silent promise of a very slow, very painful ticket to Hell in the glare he was leveling at the man.

"I am only going to ask you once." Tommy said softly. "Every time you lie, or don't answer, I am going to remove something. And I will make sure that it hurts. Where?"

"I told him." A jerk of a chin in Billy's general direction.

No lie; just fear. "I want to know _exactly _where." Tommy drew one of his knives.

A slight glitter of defiance. "And send you right to my clan? I've already shamed myself and said too much...I'll die first."

"No." Tommy snarled. "You won't. You'll live a long, long time, and every second of it will be _exquisitely_ painful. You'll beg for mercy, but you _won't get it._ And every second you delay is a little more pain I'm going to inflict on your brothers and sisters before I kill them. We _will_ find them. You'll do them all a favor by making it quick."

The man still hesitated. Until, however, Snake Eyes' knife joined Tommy's under his chin.

"Start with his fingers." Tommy growled.

"Northern mountains!" A series of coordinates was reeled off. "They'll be contacting you with demands later today…we were just following our employers orders. Give them mercy."

Employers? "_Who?"_

"I don't know! I am not a clan master…I just follow their orders. Please…give them mercy."

"No."

There were a number of knife strikes that could kill instantly. There were a dozen targets that gave quick and nearly painless death. Tommy didn't use any of them.

On a scale rating painful and prolonged deaths, belly wounds would weigh pretty heavily on the high end. Tommy twisted the knife, just because there was red around the edges of his vision. "You forfeited mercy when you laid hands on my son."

He stepped back and let the man drop, and snapped his attention to the other three prisoners. "Do any of you know anything more than he did?"

Wordless headshakes.

"Fine."

Snake Eyes beat them to it. One thing that the Uzi semiautomatic machine gun was very good at was killing a lot of people in a hurry. Tommy rather felt that it was too quick, but then however much he'd like to spend a great deal of time and creativity on the lot, it was time he really didn't have to spare right now.

"Jinx." He glanced at her. "Get in touch with that samurai of yours and drag him away from his damn bike. I want all the swords we can get. Red, get Hawk on the line and get us something fast and quiet. Use all the favors he owes us if necessary. Billy, T'jbang, I hope you patched yourselves up well, because you're going to be fighting again. I haven't entirely ruled out killing you myself, but if you survive and help get Taro back I might consider letting you live. Kamakura, go get Tiger Claw on the line and see how fast he can get here. Junko, go get the students into hiding. Brother, if they're going to send demands…"

*I'll find the messenger.* Snake Eyes spun and stalked off. *I'll even bring him back _mostly_ alive.*

A flurry of motion, and he was alone with Billy, T'jbang, three corpses, and one rapidly bleeding out almost-corpse.

"_Sensei…"_

"Quiet, Billy." Tommy glared at him. "I am _so_ not in the mood right now. The only reason I haven't put you both in the hospital…yet…is because I need you."

"It's not that, _sensei."_ Billy paused. "If you want me to, I'll commit _seppuku_ after this…I failed you badly enough, after all…"

*He fought bravely.* T'jbang abruptly interjected. *It took a dozen of them to restrain him long enough to get to the children. I saw him pulling throwing weapons out of his leg…he didn't think I saw, but I did. But I'll join him in offering my life.*

"It was just a _shuriken, _and it wasn't poisoned. T'jbang got a _kama_ through his arm, and I know he killed at least eight of them by himself. But…it was about him." A nod at the…well, heartbeat had stopped, so it was probably safe to call it a corpse now…at Tommy's feet. "He didn't get that broken knee from either of us. He tried to grab Taro."

"I'm not going to make either of you kill yourselves. If you die, it's going to be by my hand." Tommy paused, looked down. "Taro?"

"Shoulder-checked him right in the knee joint as hard as he could. And then bit him. It took three of them to get him restrained."

Tommy almost smiled. "_Good_ boy."

"Terry got her hands on a knife somehow…I think he bled out. But, anyway…_sensei,_ I'm holding out hope they'll be all right. They're tough little things."

Tommy rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Thank you. Get out. I'm still considering throttling you both."

Wisely, they did so.

Alone, Tommy finally let himself sag back against the nearest wall.

He'd lost a lot of people in his life. His uncles, his parents, most of his clan, fellow soldiers…all dead. Temporarily, he'd lost his best friend and sword brother, and even more temporarily but no less painfully Junko.

This was worse than any of that. He closed his eyes.

People were going to _die._

He heard Junko approaching a few minutes later. "The students are…dealing with the trash." A quick, hate-filled glance at the bodies in the training yard. "They'll take care of these next…and then they'll head for the bunker."

She looked up at him, and he pulled her against him. She held on almost desperately. "Tommy…they could be hurting him…"

He could feel her shaking. "I know." He squeezed his eyes shut again and pressed his cheek against her hair. "I'm trying not to think about it. We'll get him back."

"But…"

"Don't say it. Don't even _think _it. They said they had demands…so they'll be keeping him alive, at least for now. We'll get him back."

She suddenly went tense. "If they harm one hair on his head, I am going to rip all of them limb from limb and then burn their entire compound to the ground. And then have that general of yours call in an air strike."

"Agreed."


	7. Chapter 7

Snake Eyes was very good at finding people. Even ninja. Particularly since he was fully prepared to take the town apart brick by brick and torch every tree within fifty miles if that was what it took.

It didn't. The Takeru messenger didn't try to hide, or flee. When Snake Eyes found him, he was sitting in lotus on the bed in his hotel room. He went perhaps a little paler when Snake kicked the door in, but he didn't really seem surprised.

In fact, he almost looked like he expected death. Snake Eyes was very, very tempted to give it to him, too.

The agent examined Snake, who was still breathing hard, and still viewing the world through a sort of crimson haze. He spread his hands into the traditional gesture of peaceful intent and stood, very slowly.

"I am not armed, Silent Master." He said calmly.

That…was beyond unusual for a ninja. Unless…

The man _did _expect to die. He knew that there was no chance of escape, no chance that he'd be able to fight his way free. He'd accepted a suicide mission; carry demands to the very angry parents and clan of the children his clan had taken.

It wasn't unheard of for a ninja to take a mission that they had no hope of surviving. It did, however, mean that whatever the Takeru expected to gain was more than just a fee; suicide missions would not be considered unless it brought the clan itself either great honor, redeemed an agent of some great failure, or served a vendetta against a sworn enemy.

The Arashikage and Takeru weren't exactly friendly, but they weren't at each other's throats either. Quite frankly, Snake Eyes didn't give a damn _why._ They _had, _and when he got his hands on those responsible, _Biblical_ would be the only term that could begin to describe what he was going to do.

Claims of peaceful intent aside, Snake searched the man anyway. Trusting a ninja who claimed to be unarmed was possibly one of the stupidest things on the planet. And, sure enough, he removed two knives…which, actually, for a ninja _was_ pretty much going unarmed.

He wasn't particularly gentle. He was even less so when he dragged the man back to the compound.

Apparently resigned as the man was, however, his nerve almost broke when Snake dragged him into Tommy's study.

Junko and Scarlett were both there. One look at their faces, and the Takeru agent flinched and balked. Snake Eyes encouraged him through the door by kicking his knees out and slinging him onto the floor in the middle of the room by the back of his neck.

Scarlet, looking deceptively calm, stood, knelt next to the man, grabbed a fistful of hair, and jerked his head back.

"So." She jerked his head back a little further, one knee planted squarely between the man's shoulders. "You were sent to lay out 'demands'. You're brave, I'll give you that. That's not going to keep me from breaking your neck, of course. You'd best talk fast; I'm running out of patience."

A strangled sort of noise. Scarlett let his head fall back.

The man coughed a few times, but appeared to regain some measure of calm; staring into the face of Death itself, people either tended to panic or, strangely enough, find some measure of inner calm. "I don't suppose you'd get off of me?"

"No."

"You might want to have someone record th..."

He was cut off by Junko's foot landing on the back of his neck, crushing his throat against the floor. She glared down at him, her earlier panic having given way to flat-out homicidal rage. Snake Eyes could see her eyes flashing. "Every second you waste prattling on is one more second I'm going to spend skinning you alive, inch by inch." She said flatly. She stepped back. "Talk fast, and I might make it clean."

"...Right. The Masters of the Takeru send the following demands; all of the money currently in your accounts, half of your land, all of your students, and the one-eyed agent who killed the Master's favorite son some years ago during a skirmish. For this, you will receive your heirs back, unharmed and alive."

Tommy rose, paced around his desk and stared down at the agent. The man eyed the _tabi_ a few inches in front of his face and swallowed hard. "And if we don't comply?"

"Ah...." The man fidgeted. "Well, given the bloodlines inherent...it would be a shame to waste such talent. If you do not comply, the children will be hidden quite securely, their memories will be modified, and they will be raised as any children of our clan might be."

Snake Eyes knew as soon as the words 'memories' and 'modified' passed the man's lips that he was dead. He felt the flash of white-hot rage...he'd lost his sword brother to brainwashing, and to lose his _children..._the very thought made him cringe. He lunged for the man...

...Too late. And the rage he felt was nothing to what he saw in Tommy and Junko's faces.

Junko actually let out a soft scream, and launched herself at the man, shouldering Shana aside even as Scarlett jerked the man's head back again and went for her knife, and then she had flipped the agent over, and was kneeling on his chest, her fingers digging into his throat, crushing the windpipe. Not the most efficient way to strangle, perhaps...but certainly the most prolonged and painful.

Tommy had gone cold again. He glared dispassionately down as his wife choked the life out of the man. The agent tried to buck Junko off; Tommy planted a foot on his shoulder, holding him down.

"The problem for you is this." Tommy's voice could have frozen nitrogen. "We already know where you have them, and as far as I'm concerned, you're all already dead. But I owe you thanks; you've just somewhat cleared up for us who hired you. I don't know what splinter remnant of Cobra contacted you...ease up just a bit, Junko, I want him to hear this before he dies...and I don't know what they offered you to warrant an agent taking a suicide mission, but I do want you to know that I am going to kill every single member of your clan that even remotely was involved in this. And for threatening to subject my son to that torture machine of Venom and Mindbenders, I am going to make sure that they die _slowly._ Finish it, Junko."

There was a nasty sort of crunching sound. The man went limp.

Snake Eyes had had experience in the Brainwave Scanner, many years ago.

He still had nightmares about it. And he'd only been prisoner for a few hours; Tommy had been in the thing for a solid _week, _according to what little his sword brother had ever said about his capture by Mindbender. Tommy's eyes _still_ went sharp and haunted when something reminded him of his brainwashing; there were very few threats that could have more guaranteed his sword brother's absolute dedication to eradicating every last Takeru agent alive than subjecting Taro to the same thing.

The thought of either of his children being subjected to that..._thing..._was enough to sent his blood to pounding in _his_ ears. He could feel himself shaking again, like when he'd first heard Shana's words on the plane.

Shana's voice cut through to him. "...Snake? Snake? Can you hear me?"

Carefully, he uncurled his hands from the fists they'd been clenched in and glanced up at her. She was white...dead white...but there was steel in her eyes. "Hawk is sending two transports for us. He wouldn't say what, and he advised we not talk too much about what we see when they get here...but he promises they'll be fast and quiet. He also said he'll be sending a little extra help along. I wouldn't be half surprised if he shows up himself with a few submachine guns. They'll be here in a few hours. He's having them pick up Tiger Claw too...and Jinx got in touch with Kyle; he'll be here in half an hour."

*Good.* Snake gritted his teeth. *Where...*

"Kamakura and Jinx are with Billy and T'jbang; they're all gearing up and reloading."

*Good.* Snake Eyes spun and stalked towards the door. *If anyone needs me, I'll be doing the same.*

* * *

Budo showed up shortly afterwards. Snake Eyes heard the growl of the young man's darling motorcycle long before Kyle himself shot past the bench in the armory where Snake was meticulously cleaning and reloading his Uzis, making a beeline for Jinx. Jinx, atypically, didn't happily if semi-lethally tackle the man. She didn't even look up from the sword she was sharpening. The two started talking in quiet, frenzied tones; Kyle going a steadily deeper shade of red as the situation was explained.

Snake Eyes wasn't quite sure what his old apprentice saw in the self-styled samurai, but then he knew perfectly well that attraction and affection weren't always logical. Jinx and Budo were an odd couple; normally ninja and samurai couldn't stand each other. But there was absolutely nothing that Kyle hated more than innocents being abused, (though the relative 'innocence' of mischievous small children in general and ninja children with strong genetic inclinations towards smartassery in particular could possibly be debated.) and right now Snake Eyes didn't care if the man personally irritated him or not, so long as he was willing to kill a few people.

Time seemed to drag; he had his ears peeled, straining for the soft rumble of aircraft engines. _Come on, Hawk..._

He concentrated on loading his extra clips, taking some small measure of comfort in the steady, familiar motions. But there was only so much you could do before everything was sharp, everything was oiled, everything was clean, and everything was loaded...and one of the curses of having done weapons maintenance so many thousands of times was that it didn't take him very long to do any one item. Despite the number of weapons and tools he carried, he was through them sooner rather than later, and a glance at the clock told him that the time Hawk had estimated his planes would arrive was still an hour off.

Irritable, impatient, worried pacing eventually took him to the suite he shared with Shana and the children.

He knew Shana was there before he even glanced in the children's bedroom; they'd been together for so long, he swore that he could sense when she was close any longer.

Shana was sitting on the edge of Sean's bed. She was dressed for a fight, and her weapons were in pristine, gleaming condition...like many soldiers, she'd developed a habit of cleaning her weaponry when under stress, particularly when you knew you were going to be going into battle soon.

He knew that she knew when he walked in, though he didn't make any noise. She might not be a ninja officially, but she'd loved one for a very long time, and trained with him for just as long. There were some senses that rather rubbed off.

"Nine months." She said aloud. "Nine months, and I couldn't keep a damn thing down for the first three. And the last three I spent craving sesame chicken and nacho chips. I was in labor for _eighteen goddamn hours. _And some _assholes_ think that they can take them away, and I somehow _won't_ track their sorry asses down and pull their eyeballs out through their ears?"

Snake Eyes sat down next to her. She leaned against him.

"They won't hurt them." She seemed to be trying to convince herself. "They _won't."_

*No.* Snake Eyes shook his head. *They won't...because we aren't going to let them, Shana.*

He was trying to convince himself, too. He knew it.

She nodded. They didn't move for a few long minutes. She sighed abruptly, frustration, anger, and agonized worry all rolled up into one sharp exhalation. "Hawk needs to _hurry."_

*Yes.*

* * *

Next chapter, we get some familiar, wholly pissed faces, and wear a raincoat. Failing that, I hear club soda gets out fresh bloodstains.


	8. Chapter 8

The aircraft are based loosely upon the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, (which are awesome and I WANT one) but I've taken quite a few creative liberties with the idea.

When Hawk's promised transports finally showed up, Tommy raised his eyebrows just a little bit.

While he'd been in the military, he'd been in deep black-ops programs for much of his service time. Much of the Joe hardware had been highly classified and all of it had been state of the art. But technology had come a long way in the time since the Joe team had disbanded, and classified military tech was years ahead of even the newest technological wonder-toys in Japan. Not that such really interested Storm Shadow at _all._ The only attention he paid to the newest gadgets was when new security systems were released, and then only to figure out exactly how to avoid, disable, and destroy them.

Silent; even _he_ had to strain to hear them coming in after they'd been spotted. When they came in for a landing, his eyebrows rose even more; the wings _shifted,_ becoming rotors instead of wingsand then they were louder, but still not very loud.

He'd never been crazy about aircraft like Ace or Wild Bill had been. But even he could tell with something was damned cool, and this fact was being registered in a tiny, distant corner of his brain.

What he more cared about, however, was that this thing could get them to Shikoku fast and could get them on the ground without alerting every enemy within twenty miles.

The engines went silent (well, _more_ silent) and the rotors slowed to a halt. The Arashikage...masked, armed, snarling, and impatient...waited.

The side hatch slid open on the nearest craft, and a very familiar brusque Alabama drawl snapped out over the small air strip.

"Get yer sneaky asses in here and let's go...we got us some people to kill."

Tommy felt a moment of intense gratitude, which was something he'd never expected to feel when looking one Sergeant Major Wayne Sneeden in the battered green balaclava. If there was a soldier who'd never flinched when it came to facing down ninja, doomsday machines, overwhelming odds, crazed megalomaniacs who considered venomous snake pits to be a good architectural investment, a few tanks, or all of the above, it was BeachHead.

And Tommy knew that Beach could handle himself even when facing ninja...he'd seen the man do it before.

Scarlett's voice behind him; she sounded downright relieved to see their old Sergeant Major. "Beach!? You don't know how glad I am to see you."

"Yeah, well." A shrug. "Hawk explained things." A scowl that promised a great deal of pain. "Some fuckin' pricks done gone and screwed with ya'll...and they're threatnin' _kids._" A headshake, and a soft growl. "That's just _low._"

"It is." That voice came from the other...whatever those aircraft were called.

Even after several years, every last former Joe standing on the tarmac automatically snapped to attention. Some things weren't discarded in a day, or a year, or a lifetime...and the standard Joe response to the voice of one General Clayton M. Abernathy was one of them.

"Sir!" Kamakura sounded agonized. "Sir, you shouldn't have come..."

"Shut up, Kamakura." Hawk said shortly. "What happened here is my fault, and I've not gone so soft that a few damned ninja are going to take me down." He glanced at the others. "You know, you really don't have to do that anymore, but I'll say 'at ease' if it will make you feel better."

Scarlett, Tommy, Snake, Jinx, Kamakura, and Billy all relaxed. Storm Shadow looked Hawk over, and saw Snake doing the same. The other former Joes looked vaguely uncomfortable too.

In any other situation, he'd argue the general putting himself in danger like this...his oath didn't technically apply any longer, but still...

But he also knew that Hawk was damned good in a fight, and his son was in enemy hands.

Snake Eyes suddenly nodded, apparently coming to the same decision. *You have no idea how grateful I am, sir.*

Hawk scowled. "Damned if I'm going to let _anyone_ mess with my soldiers...past or not. And if not for me, this wouldn't have happened. My superiors weren't happy, but they won't do anything to risk alienating 'Abernathy's ninja', for some reason. I called in a few other favors, too." He looked almost apologetic. "Not many, though...no one can think that the US is running some sort of military operation in Japan. If we're caught, then Uncle Sam doesn't know what we were doing, and it's not their fault that a general went rogue and stole a few of his old men away from their stations. Damn shame, but he was crazy anyway...went on about 'ninja' all the time." Hawk grinned ruefully. "You get the picture."

Scarlett shook her head. "We're grateful for whatever you can do, Hawk."

Abruptly, the pilot of the nearer aircraft leaned out of the open hatch. "You know, the sooner you get on board, the sooner I can smoke some ninja."

Another wave of gratitude; if there was anyone alive who could hit a ninja with an aircraft mounted 50 cal installment, it was Ace.

Tommy nodded shortly. The Arashikage, without another word, split themselves into two groups and hopped into the waiting aircraft. Tommy, Junko, Billy, and T'jbang climbed up in the nearer; Snake, Scarlett, Jinx, Budo, and Kamakura headed for the second. Tiger Claw nodded to them as they settled themselves; the New York based Arashikage was masked and armed to the teeth, as were they all.

"Phoenix Master." He inclined his head respectfully. "We will get your son back, sir."

"Yes." Tommy leaned his head back against the bulkhead and sighed. "I'm hoping so."

The crossbreed aircraft took off remarkably smoothly. Tommy, who during his years in both G.I. Joe and Cobra had taken to carrying earplugs when he knew he'd be riding in helicopters, actually didn't have to use them.

After a few minutes, he became vaguely aware that Beach was giving him an odd sort of look. He raised his eyebrows under his mask. "What?" He sounded slightly snappish...but then he _really _wasn't in the mood for an argument right now, and while he might be grateful to the man for his help, he and BeachHead had never exactly gotten along. He doubted a few years of occasional contact had changed this.

But BeachHead didn't snap back. In fact, he looked almost....sympathetic?

"Ya'll look terrible." The Sergeant Major said frankly. "Both of you." A nod at Junko.

Junko bristled. "Forgive me for not putting my face on...I've got other things on my mind at the moment." Her voice was almost a snarl...but then she'd never known BeachHead; she'd only heard about him from her husband and her fellow clan members. And Beach's tendency towards tactlessness was legend, and it took someone who knew the man well to read anything but 'vaguely irritated anger' under that balaclava. Even ninja masks, which were thinner, didn't conceal expression so effectively.

"Hey..." Beach held up his hands. "Didn't mean nothin'...just, well...can't imagine, is all. I'd look like hell too. More'n usual, anyways."

"Oh." Junko sighed and slumped back against the bulkhead next to Tommy again.

"So, why?" Beach tilted his head. "I mean, pouges must've known ya'll would be royally pissed. I've seen you an' Snake angry before...I saw you that one time when Zartan was snooping around...ain't pretty."

"A vendetta, as far as I can figure." Tommy sighed. "They sent demands...and one of them was 'the one-eyed agent who killed the Master's favorite son.'"

Billy snapped his head around at this. Tommy ignored him. "It seems that some remnant of Cobra hired them to exact vengeance on us...God knows, we're hated by every ex-Cobra agent alive and in hiding. But no clan would have accepted something like this if they didn't already have some sort of vendetta against the Arashikage. There's a reason we're feared, after all."

"How do you know that, y'know..." Beach hesitated. "They ain't dead already?"

Junko tensed. Tommy felt his fists clenching and his jaw going tight. Billy, Tiger Claw, and T'jbang all winced.

"Blood." Junko said shortly. "Taro is a scion of the Arashikage line, ninja bred, the son of the Phoenix Master, and has the Ear that Sees. Terri and Sean are the children of the Silent Master, one of the most fabled ninja ever to live. We were told that failure to comply with their demands would mean that the children would be hidden, brainwashed, and raised as Takeru agents. They won't kill them."

She still sounded like she was trying to convince herself; Tommy knew what she was afraid of. Valuable bloodlines or not, if the Takeru thought they could use physical retaliation against the children to keep the parents at bay, they'd in all likelihood do it.

This was a large part of why Tommy wanted this to be as fast and decisive as possible.

Beach went stiff. "_Brainwash?_ They're goddamn _children..._that jus' ain't goddamn _right._ Shovin' a kid in the fuckin' Brainwave Scanner...that ain't _human._" The Sergeant Major growled. "Fuckin' animals...shootin' is too good for em'."

"Yes." Tommy said coldly. "It is."

"_Sensei?"_

"Yes, Billy...he specified you. How many people have you killed over the last four or five years, anyway?"

A long pause. "I don't know...more than a few. No one stands out."

"He said it was during a skirmish. How many times were you attacked by rivals on missions?"

"Oh, god...a dozen? Fourteen? Somewhere around that."

"That's what I thought." Storm sighed. "If he was an agent, he should have known the danger. He also should have known your reputation, and thought twice about engaging you."

Billy looked rather unsure about whether or not to take that as a complement. He settled for just looking vaguely hopeful that his old master _wasn't_ going to remove a few major organs after this was all over.

Fast as the new aircraft were, it took a couple of hours to get from the Hakkōda mountains of Honshū to Shikoku island.

Shikoku was the smallest of the four main islands of Japan, and the most sparsely populated. It wasn't as rugged as the Hakkōda, but the high mountains were remote and that was what ninja looked for in a stronghold.

Not that any place in Japan was secret; the nation was too densely populated for that. But the government (which was fully aware that ninja were hardly a thing of the past, and also didn't feel any great need to antagonize them) tended to treat land claimed by the clans more or less as if it didn't exist. While some fairly ready proximity to amenities such as hospitals, stores, and roads was good, civilians rarely caused issues. Ninja themselves were more than capable of discouraging civilians from poking around their compounds.

But _remote_ more or less meant _private _and ninja were an intensely private sort. This was why Tommy wasn't at all surprised when the coordinates he'd given Ace took them to an uninhabited stretch of high foothills.

"I've got a blip on my screen" Ace's voice sounded from the cockpit. "Looks like some sort of building complex. We're up high, so they won't see us unless they've got better radar than the USA test facilities do. There's a good landing spot maybe eight miles to the north...you want us to look closer?"

"No." Tommy closed his eyes, took a deep breath. _Fear is useless. Fear paralyzes the mind and body. Reject it. Anger is better, but can drive you to rash action. Be cold in your anger; ice that no fire can melt. Then will your enemies fall._ "I don't want them to see us coming. We'll call you for backup if we need it...but I don't want to risk missiles or strafing runs when I don't know where Taro is."

"Got it." Ace sounded disappointed, but understanding. He spoke into his radio. "Right...we're setting down at the north site...no engagement for now."

Minutes later, they were setting down. Tommy was out of his seat, ignoring the motion of the aircraft, waiting impatiently at the hatch. Behind him, the other Arashikage also rose, settled weapons a little more firmly into place, and waited.

As soon as he felt the bump of the aircraft setting down, Tommy had the hatch open and was on the ground. He waited impatiently as the second aircraft landed, and then the rest of the clan was gliding over, followed by Hawk, who was kitted out in body armor and enough firearms to level a small nation. The general wasn't the last one out of the...well, whatever those things were called.

Tommy felt his eyebrows go up once more, and he almost smiled.

If there was one person who he respected purely for his kill record and his ability to put a bullet in your skull from a mile away on a windy day, it was Low Light. There was a reason Tommy hated snipers; Low Light embodied that reason perfectly. Even a ninja couldn't dodge a bullet fired from so far away that you never saw it, never heard it, never knew who'd fired it or from where.

The sniper didn't say a word. He just looked at the lot of them, mildly disinterested, nodded, and shouldered his rifle.

"Sniper?" Junko said in his ear.

Tommy nodded. "Possibly the best in the world."

"Oh, _good._" A sigh of relief. "The sniper is on _my_ side for once."

Hawk was grinning. "Low Light's a Master Sergeant now...hasn't gotten promoted to a position as Top or Sergeant Major for 'marked introverted tendencies'. I don't think he minds too much, though. Opposite of why Beach is still Sergeant Major, actually...something about him being 'too abrasive a personality for high command'. Though I always rather think of the great General Patton and laugh when I hear that."

BeachHead perked up. "Did you just compare me to General Patton, sir? The man who pissed on Nazi soil? Who slapped a whining pouge for complain' about being scared when his friends were dying from Nazi shelling?"

"Yes, BeachHead, I did."

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, sir." BeachHead grinned.

Snake Eyes clicked his fingers irritably. *We're moving. Try to keep up...no offense, sir."

"None taken. I think I can remember my training well enough to manage."

BeachHead snorted. "Snake, you ain't the only sneaky ones. Let's go kill us some ninja...been a damn long while since I've gotten to shoot me a few enemy spooks, an' this lot have it coming."

Eight miles wasn't very far, but it took a bit longer when you were slipping forward _silently. _They were operating without intel, after all...they didn't know where the guards were, or how many. But ninja were, after all, very good at not being seen or heard. Rangers were almost as good at this, and Low Light...well, _silent_ was a major personality trait for the sniper. Hawk knew what he was doing, too.

Low Light stopped three quarters of a mile from their target. He looked up a particularly tall, tree, in the direction of the compound, and nodded to himself.

"Setting up here." He said quietly, and reached up, grabbed a branch, and started pulling himself up.

They waited a moment; Low Light didn't reappear, which meant that he'd found a good vantage point.

Half mile...quarter mile, and he stopped. The other Arashikage, knowing exactly what the Phoenix Master was doing, froze instantly. BeachHead and Hawk, who both knew very well about Tommy's hearing, went still.

Tommy closed his eyes and listened.

Forest-sounds..._true_ forest-sounds, not animal calls aped by humans. No one close, then...but there were people farther away. He could hear the occasional soft murmur of voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

But he could guess at their positions; they'd be guarding the compound, stationed in towers overlooking the surrounding area. A ninja compound was designed to guard itself from other ninja; the guards wouldn't be sleeping, or inattentive, or green.

He started sliding forward again, more cautiously.

Minutes later, and they were examining the compound before them...walled, like all ninja strongholds, but small enough to convince him that this was a backup compound, a place to retreat if the main clan stronghold was compromised and to house agents that would have uncomfortably crowded the main compound. Large clans often had one or two such retreats; if anyone lived at such, it would be veteran agents. No students, no green operatives...skilled, capable, proven fighters only.

He'd expected no less.

They made a careful sweep of the area, and then huddled for a rapid discussion over entry strategy and tactics. This took place entirely in sign; an unforeseen benefit of Snake Eyes' muteness had been that pretty much everyone who had to speak with the well-named Silent Master on a regular basis had learned ASL. Some proficiency at sign was already valued by military commandos; it was just as useful for ninja.

Kamakura was the one who slid over to Hawk. He saluted; ingrained habits die hard. *Sir.* Tommy saw the signs out of the corner of his eye. *We need a diversion...tell Low Light to aim for the western wall guards.*

Hawk triggered his comm and whispered. Tommy still caught the words.

"Western wall. Take them."

Low Light was using a silencer; Tommy only heard the shot when it _cracked _through the sound barrier. But the yells of alarm from the compound and the heavy sound of a body falling a considerable distance were sweet, sweet balm to his ears. And sure enough, even as he watched agents shot towards the west and east walls; the obvious approach if the shots were a diversion, and their dead brother. Even as they watched, there was another faint crack as a bullet broke the sound barrier, and Tommy saw a second agent get thrown back as if kicked in the chest.

No one needed goading. They shot off, circling through the trees towards the back of the compound, where the buildings were closest to the fence.

It didn't take long to scale the wall, and even less time to melt into the shadows.

*Remember.* Snake signed. *No mercy. No quarter. We're not looking for prisoners. And for the love of god, find my children. Don't get caught alone. Kamakura, T'jbang, you're with Hawk. Budo, you won't leave Jinx anyway. Billy, you're with Beach. Shana, you're with me. Junko and Tommy can't be pried apart anyways.*

Nods, and they scattered.

It only took a few minutes before their first encounter. The Takeru must have known what was happening or about to happen; sliding through a window, Tommy _just _heard the squeak of a hidden panel, and then he and Junko were back to back and surrounded by five masked, sword-wielding opponents.

Tommy smiled, and when he drew his swords it was with a measure of relief. _This_ was what he'd wanted; vengeance, carved out of the flesh of the people who'd dared to do this, dared threaten the one thing in this world that he valued above all else.

The fight was fast, brutal, and short. The enemy agents were good. But Tommy and Junko were better, and weren't fighting for the honor of their clan, or for a fee; they were fighting for the oldest, strongest instinct of them all.

Slide aside, parry, parry, step, and a vicious cut down that opened one opponent from shoulder to belly. Turn, half-step, a rising cut that took off an arm at the elbow, and his other sword _thrust,_ the point driving straight through ribs and organs and ribs again to come out the back. Tommy kicked the corpse back forcefully enough to dislodge it, parried again, and removed his last opponent's head.

Junko tugged her own weapons free of two very dead Takeru; she'd somehow run both through simultaneously. The whole fight had taken all of about six seconds.

It had felt _good, _too.

They were _all_ going to die.

Tommy listened again, straining to hear the familiar heartbeat of his son. He didn't. He glanced at Junko and shook his head. She nodded sharply, stalked to the wall, got a leg up on a chest of drawers, and wriggled through he open door to one of the secret passages that were common in ninja dwellings.

He followed her.


	9. Chapter 9

A three inch break is breaking three one-inch pine boards held together and braced. It is equivalent to breaking a major leg bone, crushing a rib cage, or cracking a skull. One inch, by the way, is about equivalent to breaking a hand. Two is about equivalent to breaking an arm or cracking a few ribs. A four inch break would be pretty much like absolutely crushing a human skull or completely putting your fist through their rib cage.

I've seen master-level black belts do five inch breaks. I do not mess with master-level black belts.

It was a long way from a good if uneventful childhood in a small town in deep Midwest farm country to being one of the most feared men on the planet. Once, a very long time ago, the man who would come to be called Snake Eyes would never have believed that he'd ever kill a man, let alone go through an entire enemy compound without thought of mercy or compassion.

Then war had happened. The army had happened. Southeast Asia had happened. Idealism didn't survive the jungle, and Snake Eyes had taken his first steps towards being one of the most dangerous men in the world. He'd killed more people than he could possibly count, and his name was whispered to the children of the few loyal Cobra remnants and the children of rival clans as a threat to elicit obedience.

Rarely had he fought for his own emotions, however, and indeed he'd occasionally considered his extraordinary gifts in combat more a curse than anything else. God knew they'd brought him trouble almost as often as they'd saved him over the years. Quite frankly, he'd more or less thrown away any possibility he'd ever had of returning to a normal life in exchange for his skills; he _was_ a warrior. It was a role that had defined him for so long that he doubted he could ever adjust to being anything else.

But those skills, while usually used to protect his country or serve his clan...well, there were exceptions to every rule. He _had_ sometimes fought and killed for purely selfish reasons. There'd been the two-man raid he and Tommy had engineered on Cobra Island, years ago. He'd once taken advantage of the fact that he'd been presumed dead in Sierra Gordo to track down one Doctor Venom after a little incident involving the Brainwave Scanner that had thoroughly earned Snake Eyes' abject hatred…but mostly he fought because his country needed him to, and later because his clan needed him to, or occasionally in self-defense or to defend his friends. Which, given their line of work, actually happened pretty regularly. Enemies were something that they'd all accumulated a few of over the years.

(Incidentally, the Arashikage were _very _picky about the missions they accepted; a mission for his clan was invariably a mission that would end up engineering some sort of good. He wouldn't have agreed to accept a place as clan master otherwise.)

But when he did fight for vengeance, or anger, or desperation…well, there was a reason that fully half the forces of Cobra Island had died when he and Tommy had gone after Zartan.

Right now, he was far, far angrier and feeling far more willing to inflict a little suffering than he'd felt even after Venom had casually poked through his memories.

Ninja clan wars were a nasty business. This almost went without saying; when you had two or more ridiculously skilled and incredibly intensively trained groups of killers going for blood, things were going to get messy. One thing that Snake Eyes had noted over the years was that in a battle, should both sides be evenly matched, the side that was more highly pissed off usually won. Adrenaline and fatalism could do amazing things.

This wasn't an even match. The Arashikage were highly outnumbered. But it still wasn't an even match…there was a reason that despite their size no clans had ever before dared mess with them. In centuries past, the Arashikage had served emperors and shogun; the clan had been one of the most powerful in Japan for a very long time, purely because their agents had long been some of the most skilled in the world.

Even by the Arashikage, Snake Eyes and Tommy had been considered exceptional, and their apprentices were almost as good as they were. Even outnumbered ten to one, it wasn't fair…any Arashikage could handle ten on one odds. And right now, they were by far the more pissed to boot.

The Takeru hadn't thought that they'd be found quite so quickly, but they _were_ ninja. Once they realized that the Arashikage were in the compound, things had gotten very interesting very quickly. This was just fine with Snake Eyes and Shana; Snake Eyes was still up four kills on her, but Shana had pulled off a couple of truly vicious, punishing, bone-breaking, wholly inspired kills that reminded Snake exactly why even he considered Scarlett's wrath a wholly terrifying sight.

They'd gone in through a door Snake Eyes had made for them with one of his grenades. That had been five minutes ago. They'd spent the last four and a half minutes carving a really spectacular path of destruction through the enemy agents attracted by the explosion, and now Shana had one semiconscious Takeru agent by the throat and was systematically beating the location of their children out of the man.

Listening to her with one ear and alert for another attack, Snake Eyes heard just the faintest, faintest whisper of a rustle above him, where he assumed a passageway ran through the ceiling. It was the sort of sound that might be made by cloth sliding over wood…as if someone was crawling very stealthily towards them.

He drew an Uzi, aimed upwards, and fired a few bursts. He was rewarded with a pained shriek, and a few drops of blood dripped down to spatter on the floor with the blood of the three dead agents lying around Shana.

A hidden door swung open, and four more Takeru dropped down. One of them nearly collapsed; he staggered sideways and had to brace himself against the wall for support. Snake Eyes' Uzi had torn his left leg to ribbons; he was bleeding freely and even as Snake watched the man blinked and shook his head, clearly suffering the lightheadedness that was a symptom of severe blood loss.

He was dead, but even a wounded, dying ninja is a dangerous ninja. Snake Eyes solved the problem with another short burst of semiautomatic machine gun fire, this one at chest level. The three uninjured agents dodged in time. The wounded man didn't.

Seconds later, and he had his _ninjato_ in one hand and a trench knife in the other. He ducked a _kasuri-kama _and lunged forwards, driving his shoulder firmly into the solar plexus of the _kasuri-kama_ wielding agent. The man bent double as Snake straightened, his trench knife slamming _up, _driving between two ribs into the lungs and heart of the winded agent, and his sword coming up to turn aside a staff aimed for his skull.

Shana ducked a knife strike and executed a really beautiful disarming move, managing to slash the ninja's throat open while she was at it. As Snake was turning aside the staff and shoving his trench knife through the ribs of the winded man, she whipped her stolen knife at the last agent.

She wasn't as good with throwing weapons as him and certainly nowhere near Tommy's downright preternatural abilities with a throwing knife, but she was still pretty damned impressive. The knife hit the Takeru agent in the kidneys; a killing shot, if not instantly. The staff hit the ground, and the agent went to his knees. Snake Eyes took his head off just for good measure.

She turned back to the injured, still-alive agent. He'd managed to shove himself semi-upright, despite his broken hip (victim of a Patented Shana O'Hara Pivot Side Kick, which Snake Eyes had seen her break three inch boards with without apparent effort), and was reaching for a fallen knife. Shana slammed the heel of her boot firmly into his groin and kicked the knife away.

"Where were we?" She said aloud as the man let out a strangled, pained sort of whimper and slumped again. "Oh, right…you were telling me where you're keeping my children."

"I won't…" The man was cut off by a second high-speed application of Scarlett's foot to his balls. Snake Eyes winced slightly, despite himself.

"One more, and then I cut them off." Scarlett snarled.

"I will not betray…"

The sound the man made this time was actually a high sort of painful keening as the heel of Shana's boot crunched into his groin a third time. She drew her own knife. "I'm asking again."

"Just…kill me, please…"

"I will. Just as soon as you tell me _where my children are."_ She raised the knife. "We'll find them anyway, you know…but if you're bound and determined to see what getting castrated feels like, I'm not one to deny you the opportunity…"

"NO! Gods…please. _Anything _but…_that._ A clean death?"

"Talk, and it'll be _fairly _quick."

"They're being held in one of the smaller bunkrooms, in the largest of the living-houses. The one at the middle of the compound."

"Thank you."

The knife strike to the back of the neck, just where the spine met the skull, was a fast, nearly painless death. Scarlett stood and touched the communicator wire by her ear. "They're in the central living quarters."

Tommy's voice crackled in Snake's ear. "I know." His sword brother sounded downright _vindictive…_Snake Eyes hadn't heard that tone of abject hatred in his sword brother's voice since their raid on Cobra island. "We just got there, and I can hear them. Jinx and Budo are clearing out the training yard right now on their way here…and BeachHead…"

There was a not-too distant shout of rage, and Snake Eyes recognized the sound of high-caliber handgun fire and inventive swearing.

"…BeachHead and Billy are close to your position. Beach just found himself a new group of victims, I believe. Hawk's picking off wall guards. Both of you get over here. There are about twenty guards around the children, and I want it _fast._"

Snake Eyes and Shana were already running.


	10. Chapter 10

Storm barely dared breathe; it was taking everything he had to _wait._ He could _hear_ them…they were less than thirty feet away.

The sound of his son's heartbeat was even better than hearing the death-screams of the people who'd taken him.

_Snake, Red, get here NOW dammit…_

There was a sudden burst of activity from the room on the other side of the wall. Tommy tensed, ready to go _through_ the wall if he had to…

"Can't you hold onto him? He's a _six year old child…"_

"OW! He's _biting…you_ try keeping him still."

Terri's voice, defiant. "My mom and dad an' Uncle Tommy are going to kill you _so _dead. An' I know they're here. I can hear daddy's gun."

"Now he's _kicking._" The agent apparently trying to restrain Sean sounded pained.

"Shut up. The youngest one headbutted me right in the groin. It's _still _sore."

Tommy smiled despite himself. _Good boy, Taro. _

Judging by the sounds from just outside, Kimi and Budo were finishing off the last of the resistance in the training yard. If the screams meant anything, Jinx was in fine form today.

A sudden staccato cracking of gunfire, a victorious crow of profanity in a distinctive southern baritone, and the sounds of battle from outside ceased. Tommy took a breath, let out half of it.

Junko was motionless next to him, staring at the thin false wall that was all that separated them from their son, the twins, and exactly twenty-seven guards. Her knuckles were white around the hilts of her swords.

Tommy heard Billy's heartbeat before his old apprentice eeled his way through the trapdoor that led down to this hidden hiding-space from the level above. He landed without a sound, and his hands moved, just visible in the dim light.

*The Silent Master and Scarlett are just outside. They're coming in through the front…it should distract them.*

Tommy nodded in silent approval. He didn't ask what the signal was; he knew his sword brother well enough to guess.

The sound of an Uzi semiautomatic was very distinctive. Snake Eyes had been known to use a short burst from his favorite firearm to get attention during vital situations on more than one occasion before. It also was very, very effective in getting the attention of your enemies.

He heard the hiss of alarm from the other side of the wall. "It's _him…_they've gotten through _everything…_there were _fifty _of our brothers and sisters out there…they've only got nine agents, counting the _gaijin_ woman…and they brought what, four friends? And they're _still_ going right through the best we've got…"

Terry's voice again, this time sounding smug. "_Told _you my daddy was going to kill you."

"Will you _shut her up?" _

Sean's voice cut in; his brother's son had apparently been pried off of the agent he'd been assaulting. "You'd better hope its Dad who gets you…Mom's meaner than him when she's really mad."

A door crashed open somewhere, and Tommy heard Scarlett's voice. "SEAN! IS THAT YOU?"

A joyful yelp. "MOM! OVER HE…mmph…" The last word was muffled, apparently by a hand over the boy's mouth.

Storm listened. The heartbeats were accelerating…and the agents were turning, facing the other wall.

He nodded sharply. Billy grinned, lowered one shoulder, and slammed it into the wall.

Billy was in excellent shape, and a good fifteen or twenty pounds heavier than Tommy…who also wouldn't have had many problems with the rather thin wall. The wall splintered, and they launched themselves at the backs of the men and women around the children.

It was just about at that point that Snake Eyes kicked in the door across the room.

"GET DOWN!" That was Shana's voice; Tommy saw all three children automatically duck and roll as far out of danger as possible. _He's okay, he's alive, thank god, thank god…_

The next few seconds were a blur. Tommy caught a glimpse of Billy fighting three agents simultaneously…if you could call that 'fighting'. The more appropriate term might be 'slaughter'. His old apprentice seemed to be taking a great deal of pleasure in exacting a little revenge.

He took off an arm, pivoted, dropped to one knee as a _naginata_ slashed just over his head, stabbed _up,_ under a breastbone and through the lungs. There was the distinctive wet hissing of a deflating lung, but he was already gone. Behind him, the agent dropped, choking and trying desperately to suck in air.

He wasn't thinking; in the middle of a fight, there was never time to think. That was why he'd spent tens of thousands of hours drilling everything he knew into his muscle memory; he didn't _need_ to think in battle. His reflexes and automatic reactions took care of it.

Step, cut, parry, _duck, _thrust, pivot and slam a side kick into his chest, Junko's got him now, step again, cut…that's a mortal wound, I hit the femoral artery…block, thrust kick…Snake has him…slash, parry, parry, _that's a whip chain, duckduckduck…_whip a throwing knife at him…perfect hit, he's not getting up…new arrival, he recognized Jinx's voice as she launched herself into the fight with a snarl…slide, pivot, take his head off, sound of a racing heartbeat that wasn't any of his clan members, one of them is behind me, stab _back, _tug of his sword piercing a rib cage, _got you, _they're almost all down, look around for the next one…

A yelp of indignation from his son, and he froze. Thankfully, the lone remaining survivors were currently very busy getting beaten into a pulp by his brother, Red, Billy, and Jinx.

He and Junko's full attention was on the man holding their son. More specifically, on the knife in the man's free hand, very, very close to Taro's throat.

"Don't." The agent saw Tommy's hand slide towards one of his hidden throwing weapons. "Either of you. Move too fast, and I'll both earn what you'd do to me and somewhat avenge the deaths of my brothers and sisters."

Tommy was good with throwing weapons, which was actually a far more involved skill set than people first assumed. He could eye a target, asses distance, possible striking points, lethality of each, draw a weapon, gauge weight and balance, and know instinctively how hard the throw needed to be, how much spin he needed, and make the throw, knowing that he'd hit _exactly_ where he wanted to.

He knew that he could do all of this in about an eighth of a second. If he risked it, the man would be dead in a quarter of a second. Had it been his life on the line, he wouldn't have thought twice.

This wasn't a risk he was willing to take. He spread his hands, very slowly. "What do you want?"

"Safe passage out of here." The man tightened his grip; Taro made a soft noise of discomfort. Tommy twitched. Junko tensed.

"You've got it. Put the knife down." Tommy's entire world had contracted to that knife. The glint from the edge of the blade was making his heart race, and he could feel fear freezing solid around his belly.

A snort. "I do, and I get ten pounds of metal through my body. No, I'll not let him go until I'm safely away."

Taro rolled his eyes back, looking up at the man holding him. Then he looked at his parents. Then down at the hand holding the knife.

He grinned, and Tommy was struck again by just how much that was like looking into a mirror. Without hesitation, Taro went for the tendons on the underside of the wrist across his throat, sinking his sharp little baby teeth in as hard as he possibly could. The agent yelped, and the knife fell from suddenly limp fingers.

Tommy's throwing star hit the man squarely in the throat. The next three strikes were almost simultaneous and barely a fraction of a second after his own. A knife that he recognized as Snake's hit the agent in the left eye; a second that looked like Billy's hit barely a quarter-inch from Tommy's throwing star. A fourth… fighting knife with a carved bone hilt, that was Jinx's…slid between two ribs. Junko just flat out tackled him, going for his eyes with her bare hands. The fact that he was already dead didn't seem to matter to her.

Taro pried himself free and launched himself towards his father. Tommy went to his knees; Taro hit him around solar plexus level almost hard enough to knock his wind out, but he really didn't care.

"That was a very, _very_ good boy." He murmured.

"Good enough to get knives?"

"_Definitely."_

"_Taro!" _Junko, apparently satisfied that the man was very, very, _very _dead, wrapped herself around her son. "Are you all right? You're not hurt?" She examined him, and frowned. "You're bruised…what happened here?" She gently touched a black-and-blue welt on Taro's forehead. Tommy felt himself twitch again.

"One of the men got mad when I hit him." Taro said matter-of-factly. "I hit him in the crotch, like you showed me, mommy."

Tommy snarled. "_Which one?"_

Taro pointed to a man twitching weakly and bleeding heavily from several bullet wounds. "That one."

The _shuriken _hit the man in the temple. Any target where you had to penetrate bone was usually better suited to a knife, which had greater piecing power. Given the force behind this particular throw, however, the thin bone at the temple didn't slow the missile much.

The man twitched one more time and went still.

Across the room, Scarlett had both of her children in an embrace that was only just this side of a death grip. Both of the twins were chattering so fast that Tommy really couldn't make out anything. Terri, who was a daddy's girl, wriggled out of her mother's arms and wrapped herself around Snake, who'd dropped both firearm and _ninjato_ to give his attention to more important matters.

It was about then that BeachHead stumped in, dragging someone by the back of the _gi_ top. Tommy straightened and stood; Junko did the same, picking up Taro and settling him on one hip.

Beach's eyes flicked over the room, taking in the bodies, the blood, and the children. He grinned. "They all okay? Good. I think I found ya'll the boss of this lot." He hauled the semiconscious man up and set him on his feet, then shoved him towards the center of the room. "Was ordering around the others, anyway…an' they were callin' him '_Sensei'_ and '_m__asutā', _whatever the hell that means."

"Master." Jinx translated. "It means 'Master'."

"Whatever. I only shot him twice, an' it wasn't in vital bits, so he should still be able to talk." BeachHead crossed his arms, looking rather pleased with himself and completely unconcerned about the _shuriken_ stuck in his body armor just behind his right shoulder. "Ninja master my ass…keep tellin' you, ninja ain't the only sneaky ones."

Tommy stalked over towards the man staggering to his feet. The man was bleeding from what looked like two .45 rounds to his right thigh, and from the way he was favoring his left arm Beach had dislocated something.

"You." Tommy snarled. "You're Master Yawara? The Master of the Takeru?"

The man…older than him by about twenty or twenty five years, but still lean and fit…raised his head proudly. "I am. And you are Tomisaburo Arashikage, and that is the man called Snake Eyes, the co-masters of the Arashikage. And you are going to kill me now, yes?"

"Yes." Tommy narrowed his eyes. "Brother, hold off for a moment…I want to ask him something.

Snake Eyes had his weapons in hand again; he lowered the Uzi slightly.

"Why?" Tommy glared at the wounded enemy master. "Did you think that this could end any other way? Did you think that we _wouldn't_ find you? Are you really _that_ stupid?"

"Say rather 'blinded'." Master Yawara was glaring at them. Even defeated and doomed, there was hate there. "He." A finger rose to point directly at Billy. "Killed my youngest son. I was offered a great deal of money to do what I very much wanted to do anyway…get revenge. I thought it would work. My clan is much larger than your own, after all." He snapped his glare back to Tommy and Snake. "You'd obviously kill for a threat to your own children. If, in ten or fifteen years one of them was to fall to an enemy agent, would you react so differently from myself?"

That set Tommy back on his heels for a second. But only a second. "I'd kill the agent who killed him. And whoever hired him. And I'd probably kill the master who ordered him out on the mission while I was at it. But what I _wouldn't_ do? Threaten _children._ Do it, brother."

A burst of gunfire, and the Master of the Takeru slumped forward onto the floor.

Tommy watched him fall, and didn't so much as blink.


	11. Chapter 11

I haven't forgotten this one either!

What I've written here about ninja origins is actually mostly true, to the best of our current knowledge.

Lin Kuei translates into 'Forest Ghosts' from Mandarin Chinese. Not much is known about them, but we do know that the family/clan lived in isolation in China starting some 2,500 years ago. There are many legends/rumors about them, much as there are with ninja. Another name for these spies/assasins was Moshuh Nanren. They were known to have served the imperial Chinese court during the early Tang dynasty. During this time it was customary for an emperor's close spies to be killed and buried with him when he died. Some of the Lin Kuei appear to have escaped this fate and fled to Japan 1,400-1,300 years ago, where their knowledge of stealth, martial arts, and assassination techniques influenced the ninja.

Some of the Lin Kuei also fled to Korea and Vietnam. The Hwa Rang Dan warriors of Korea received some instruction from defected Chinese spies, likely Lin Kuei. (The martial art developed by the Hwa Rang Dan is now called Tang Soo Do, which I've been taking for almost nine years.) The Lin Kuei who fled to Vietnam appear to have taught the locals a few of their techniques; some Vietnamese martial arts show a marked Chinese influence, and the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war were supposed (supposed, mind you) to have traced some of their stealth and guerilla warfare techniques back to Lin Kuei teachers.

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The courtyard was absolutely destroyed. The combination of Hawk, Beachhead, several ninja, a dozen grenades, Ranger-wielded C4, multiple firearms, and general good old throw-your-opponent-headfirst-through-a-wall brawling had razed about half of the compound to the ground. The gates were reduced to splinters.

(When Beach was asked about this, he just smirked and said "Well, they were tryin' to escape. I gave 'em a goin' away present. Y'know, if they wore body armor, shrapnel wouldn't do so much damage. _I _ain't never been killed by a grenade.")

Despite the protests of all three children ("I can walk that far, dad! I promise you won't have to carry me! Mom, leggo, I'm _fine…_") the pilots were radioed to fly in and set down in the expansive courtyard and Low Light was called in.

The sniper jogged through the gaping hole where the gates used to be at about the same time the aircraft were settling onto the grass. Low Light glanced at the smoking rubble, the bloodied but alive group, the bloodied but definitely _not _alive enemy ninja, and the children eying the aircraft with the distinct wide-eyed expressions of young people who'd just set eyes on the most exiting new toy ever.

"Was nice to have some challenging targets for once." He nodded to them and ambled towards the aircraft.

"That man creeps me out." Snake heard Junko whispering to Tommy.

Tommy lifted a shoulder. "He's still more personable than Deep Six."

"Who?"  
"I'll tell you later."

The door on the nearer one slid open and Ace's head poked out. The pilot glanced around and grimaced. "God_damn. _ You really weren't messing around, were you?"

"Do we ever?" Tommy lifted Taro up into the aircraft. The boy immediately made a break for the cockpit, only to quickly discover that Tommy still had a firm grip on the back of his shirt.

"You didn't _save _me any." Ace sounded disgruntled. "I've got a close to two tons of missiles that don't officially exist yet. I wanted to see what kind of crater they'd make."

"You'll get to." Shana grinned humorlessly. "I think that there's far too much of this place still in one piece." She glanced at Snake. "Don't you agree, dear?"

*Yes.* Snake hopped up into the aircraft. *Sean, sit. You don't need to play with that._*_

Sean glanced up at him guiltily and snatched his hand back from the parachute packs.

Ace perked up considerably. "So we're going scorched-earth here?"

"Sounds about right." Shana deftly strapped in both of the twins. They were complaining, but it was halfhearted; Snake recognized overtiredness. With any luck, they'd both be asleep once they settled down a little.

Fifteen minutes later, they were in the air, and Ace was happily blowing through God knew how many thousands of dollars worth of high explosives.

"Ten bucks says I can get the next one right on that wall fragment." Ace was talking to the other pilot over his headset." There was a pause, and then the shuddering boom of another explosion. "Ha! Told you. What? Where" A pause. "Oh, I see it…good shot. Hey! Fire another one off and I'll see if I can dust it with the 30 cals."

The hiss of a missile firing, the staccato cracking of machine gun fire, and another explosion. Ace started laughing. "Oh, I've _still _got it…I'm telling you, Shorty. Shooting down missiles is an _art_. All I need now is three Rattlers and seventeen F.A.N.G choppers trying to shove high explosives up my ass and it'd be just like old times."

"Pilots." Tommy shook his head.

"I dunno. I like blowing stuff up." Beach shrugged.

"Well, so do I. But we actually have to get up close to what we want to blow up to set and arm the explosives. More skill involved."

Beach grinned happily. "Damn right. If ya want something blown up, ain't no one out there who can blow it up better than a Ranger." He raised an eyebrow at Storm Shadow's snort. "I happen to have noticed that you an' Snake are the only ninja who seem to use C4 regularly…Night Creepers don't count, 'cause they ain't ninja and they don't use C4 _well_…an' you're the only two ninja I know who went through Ranger training. You ain't telling me that's a coincidence."

Snake raised a hand. *I would like to point out that only one of us here is a certified master of demolitions.*

"Ah've got my Sapper tabs, spook." Beach scowled.

Terri chose that moment to interject. "Daddy's good at blowing stuff up." She eyed Beachhead warily. "But I heard a _lot_ of stuff blowing up when Daddy was inside with us…was that you?"

"Most of it." Beach grinned again.

"Then you must be _really _good at blowing things up." Terri looked up at her mother. "Can he come home with us? I want to see him explode something, and he can teach me some of those words he was using outside."

"Ah like her, Snake. Cute kid. Smart, too. Must get that from her momma."

"Oh, she does." Scarlett smiled.

Snake pointedly ignored them. Tommy, however, raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Hope the same holds true with your own. If that poor child ends up with your looks…" He winced. "We're all just hoping Covergirl's genetics can save the poor thing."

Beach's eye twitched. "Funny. Real funny, spook. If'n you weren't hiding behind your little 'un…"

"Death, maimery, drop and knock out fifty. I know." Tommy was still smiling; baiting Beachhead had been one of his favorite past times in the Pit, which had resulted in a great deal of yelling, threats of violence, and thousands of push ups over the years. Beach grumbled something about smartasses and how he wished he still had the danged ninja at his mercy for some PT, "never looks so smug when he's getting mud ground into his face…"

The aircraft (Plane? Helecopter? Snake still wasn't really sure what exactly to call it) hummed slightly louder then, and Snake felt the acceleration as they rose.

Sure enough, after about five minutes the twins were slumping against each other. Sean started snoring softly; Terri semiconsciously elbowed him in the ribs and he shifted and went quiet. Snake felt himself relax a little; he'd been afraid that even if the children were fine physically, they'd be nursing psychological trauma.

But…well, they were his children, and Shana's. "Terrified cowering" was nowhere in that genetic combination, and kids were remarkably resilient creatures anyway.

On the opposite side of the cabin, Taro had wriggled and complained until Junko had given in and undone his restraint webbing. The boy had promptly wedged himself firmly in between his parents, curled up, and gone to sleep using Tommy's leg as a pillow.

"I have no idea how they fall asleep that fast." Shana murmured.

Snake Eyes himself was starting to feel the fact that he'd been going for close on three days without rest. *I'm about to do the same thing. Does Ace know where we're going?*

"I gave him the coordinates." Tommy nodded. "It'll be a few hours."

"Good." Junko let her head drop over to rest on Tommy's shoulder. "Then I'm going to nap too. Tommy…"

Tommy shifted slightly, which apparently resulted in a more comfortable position, because she sighed contentedly. "Thank you, love."

*You call me whipped.* Snake shook his head.

"You are. I am not, however, denying that I'm in the same boat." Tommy glanced at Beach. "And you're not allowed to comment. Covergirl has had you by the balls for years."

"Only when ah ask her real nice." Beach grinned at the collective wince. "Whut? Shouldn't deal it out if you can't take it."

"I forget sometimes how evil he is." Tommy sighed.

"You all can shut up now." Junko didn't open her eyes. "Some of us haven't slept in three days."

Snake, Beach, and Tommy all sighed. "Amateur." Beach snorted. "People talking…ain't as bad as enemy shelling. Or rain."

"I've slept in the middle of a muddy jungle in monsoon season and at the South Pole." Tommy offered.

*I used to have to share a bunkroom with _Tommy._ If anything teaches you to sleep through people talking…*

"Bite me, Snake."

"Tommy, play nice with the other boys. I'm not a Ranger, so let's all be quiet before I have to start shooting trank darts at people."

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There were two regions of Japan that had gone down in legend as inextricably linked to ninja. Koga and Iga provinces sat high in the mountains, even in the twenty-first century inaccessible and isolated. Even now they were viewed with a sort of nervous awe by most natives of Japan, and spoken of in hushed voices.

Legend said that the first ninja had lived here; _Rōnin, _or masterless samurai, had fled here to escape old enemies. These men had met refugees from China; the Lin Kuei_, _or 'forest ghosts', the assassins and spies of the imperial court. These were men who'd been sworn to a single master, and ordered to follow him into death. Some had decided that they preferred not to follow that part of their contract, and had used their considerable talents for stealth and subterfuge to slip away to freedom. The Chinese shadow hands had been drawn to the remoteness of the high mountains for the same reason the _Rōnin _had been; they were far from old enemies.

Two groups of highly skilled men and women had met and found common ground. They intermarried with the peasants, but had seen other uses for the common farming tools…a flail, for instance; two short pieces of wood, joined by a short bit of chain, was completely innocuous and absolutely devastating in skilled hands…the common walking stick, which could also be hollowed out and used to hide a sword, which was forbidden to the lower classes. The blowguns used for hunting birds and small game could, with the right poisons applied to the darts, be used for much larger creatures as well…

When this uniquely skilled group of people had decided that they weren't happy with just the bare scraping of a living that a peasant earned, the result had been almost inevitable. The ninja could and would do things that were distasteful to the samurai, and they could and did demand large sums of money for this.

Experimentation and necessity shaped a staggering array of specialty tools, and even more importantly a staggering array of completely unprecedented skills. The ninja clans quickly grew in wealth and power, and Koga and Iga provinces were soon acknowledged as the property of the clans.

Koga and Iga themselves were the oldest clans; each was well over a thousand years old, and it was unclear which was the elder. No one was quite sure if the two ancient clans had taken their name from the provinces they were based in or if the provinces had been named after the clans, and it didn't really matter. Other clans had branched off from the two founding clans over the centuries; Koga and Iga province were quickly home to some three dozen clans, perhaps a two dozen of which had survived to the twenty-first century.

Other clans had moved to less populated and notorious ground, where you didn't have to fight a clan war every time you wanted to expand your land a bit; the Arashikage was one of these. But Koga and Iga provinces were still the home of several of the clans, and Takeru was one of them.

Ninja homes and training compounds (usually the same place) were 'secret' in that ninety nine point nine percent of people didn't _know _they were ninja compounds. But, well, if a building had been more or less in the same place for eight hundred years it wasn't exactly hidden. That's where the more subtle methods of deception came into play for those people who weren't ninja, and didn't really want to believe in them anyway because it would upset a nice neat worldview.

(That? Oh, that's a special boarding school…nice folks, come into town for groceries and supplies, polite as can be. No idea what you're going on about; ninja don't exist anymore. Don't be silly. People don't hire assassins in real life.)

But to the people who did know…well, ninja knew where other ninja lived. And so when Snake was woken out of a sound sleep by Ace's voice saying "We're here." He knew instantly where _here _was, and what it meant.

He stood and strode towards the cockpit; Tommy carefully shifted Taro off of his lap, and followed. A moment later Beach's bulk filled the narrow opening between the passenger compartment and the cockpit behind them; Shana elbowed her way around him a second later.

They were up high. Very, very high, but there was a video screen on the control panel with a video feed of the ground below them, and whatever sort of camera they had on the hull it had _great _magnification and resolution.

The compound looked a great deal like the Arashikage compound, though it was arranged slightly differently. The resolution was just good enough to make out people; there weren't a lot, but the compound clearly wasn't unguarded either.

"You want me to dust it from up here?" Ace glanced at them. "I've got enough missiles left to make a really, really big crater."

"No." Tommy shook his head.

"Why the hell not?"

*This is their home compound. There are children and pregnant women in there.* Snake shook his own head.

"So what do you plan on doing? Land and kill anything that moves?" Ace suddenly squinted at the video screen. "The hell…hold on a second…Hey, Storm? Could you hear this bird at this height?"

"If I tried, yes."

"You know if any of them have ears like yours?"

"There are a few agents with the Ear that Sees. I believe one of them is Takeru, yes."

"I'm thinking so, and look." Ace pointed at the screen.

Snake did, and he felt his eyebrows rise.

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There'll be blood next chapter. Like, holyshit this dude is SO SCREWED violence. Also, CLIFFHANGER! Mwa ha ha.


	12. Chapter 12

Amaterasu the sun goddess is perhaps the most revered goddess in Shinto, the native and still perhaps most popular religion of Japan.

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Tommy examined the small video screen on the control panel for a few seconds.

There were a few things that meant pretty much the same thing in any language or culture. Non smoking signs, certain religious icons, flipping someone the bird, white flags; the meaning of such pervasive symbols as these was obvious to about ninety percent of the human race, regardless of country, language, culture, or race.

As such, the large white sheet spread out in the middle of the compound below them was fairly obvious in its meaning. However, these _were _ninja. Tomisaburo Arashikage knew better than perhaps anyone else alive exactly how devious ninja could be; he'd carefully cultivated the trait himself, after all, and went to great lengths to drill it into his students as well. A flag of surrender from a ninja either meant that they were giving up, or that they were hoping to trick you into dropping your guard and closing so that they could shove their hidden knife through your throat.

On the other hand, they had heavily armored high-tech military combat aircraft and nose-mounted thirty cal machine guns. Such things were also a universal symbol; one that meant You Are So Fucked. This was recognized even by ninja, who above all else were pragmatic.

Tommy glanced at Snake Eyes. Snake shrugged.

"Do they even have anything that could hurt one of these things?" Shana sounded thoughtful. "I thought they were a pretty traditional group."

Tommy saw Snake's hands moving out of the corner of his eye and glanced over to catch the words.

*They are.* Snake looked pensively at the small screen. *Still…don't trust them.*

"They're high tech enough to have radio gear. They're hailing us." Ace glanced back. "Should I put 'em on? Can't hurt to talk, right?"

"Go ahead." Tommy crossed his arms, intrigued despite himself.

Ace flipped a few switches. There was a crackle of static, and then a male voice.

"…Aito Takeru. I'm offering truce and restitution, Arashikage. Truce and restitution. We've got children in the compound. For the love of Amaterasu, if you're going to bomb us into the pits of Hell, let us get them out first. Arashikage, this is Aito Takeru…"

Tommy reached for the comm. "Just so you know, Aito…you can start putting "Master" at the beginning of your name now. Your father is dead."

A long pause. "Ah. I suspected, actually. Did any of my clan brothers or sisters…"

"No. And your stronghold doesn't exist any longer; last time I saw it, the crater was still smoking. Give me one reason we shouldn't do the same here."

"Because." Despite the news of his father's recent violent demise, the voice over the radio was steady. "I'm the clan master now. And I didn't agree with my father pursuing a vendetta against you. I'm offering a truce and a gift of restitution."

"On what vow?"

"My honor and that of my clan. Should I play you false, I'll burn the tattoo from my arm while you watch, Phoenix Master."

Tommy put the comm back. "Land the plane. In the compound."

Ace twisted to eye them. "What? Two minutes ago the only reason you weren't sterilizing the whole area was because they had kids in there."

*Land the plane.* Snake Eyes signed calmly. *No ninja would make that vow unless they meant every word.*

"Now, hold up." Beach rumbled. "How do you know he ain't lying?"

Tommy lifted one shoulder. "Clans need some way to be able to trust each other's word. Have you ever heard me or Snake make a vow like that and break it?"

"Well…no."

"And he won't either. Even the Red Hand wouldn't break that vow. Land the plane and tell the others what's going on."

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The newly minted clan master hadn't been lying; the aircraft landed without incident.

There was a double line of men and women standing along the edge of the wide open space that was the large training yard every ninja compound was centered around. But they weren't geared for battle (though no doubt were carrying hidden weapons, as nearly all ninja habitually did), and they weren't masked.

A tall man appeared at one of the doorways and hurried forwards; several agents squeezed aside to let him pass.

Tommy glanced at Snake Eyes; his sword brother nodded and went back to the passenger bay.

"Truce or not, they'll all be armed." Tommy informed Beach and Ace. "If they make any moves to start something, we'll end it. Ace, can we talk to the others?"

"Yes." Ace offered over the comm.

"General, Low Light...I'm assuming one of my agents has filled you in on why we've landed here?"

"Yes." General Hawk sounded unhappy. "And you're crazy."

"Did I ever break my vow to you, General? It was made on the same principles."

"Well, true…but these people aren't you or Snake, Storm Shadow."

"They're not so very different. Not as good, maybe. But they're still ninja, and they wouldn't make a vow on the honor and mark of their clan unless they meant it. Still…be ready, just in case."

Less than a minute later, and they stepped out of the aircraft. Tommy slammed the door firmly behind him; Ace was under firm orders to take off and keep out of firing range if things went south.

"Silent Master. Phoenix Master." The tall man was standing a few yards away from them, his hands spread in the traditional gesture of peaceful intent. He was a few years younger than Tommy, and his face was enough like that of the now-dead ex-master to leave no doubt that he was Master Yawara's son. "Mistress Junko, Mistress Shana. Arashikage agents. I can't exactly say it's a pleasure."

"_Master_ Aito." Tommy narrowed his eyes. "We just killed your clan master, a great number of your agents, and destroyed one of your strongholds. I'm completely prepared to kill you and every other person involved with the kidnapping of my son while I'm here. And you're offering to let the whole thing go?"

"Yes."

Snake Eyes folded his arms, managing to both convey a look of supreme disbelief and position his hands very near his uzis. He tilted his head slightly; words or not, the impression of "Why?" was unmistakable.

Aito eyed him, and apparently understood. He smiled slightly, but it was a bitter smile. "I know that the Arashikage have friends in high places, and therefore eyes on the world. But I doubt you've been watching us the last month; we've never been unfriendly, and you've never considered us a threat. But had you been watching us, you would have seen me and my father fighting for control of the clan. And if you indeed have the Ear that Sees like my little sister, you'll know I'm speaking truth when I say that."

Tommy kept his face impassive, but with some effort. Given the sort of respect and reverence normally accorded to clan masters, agents questioning them was rare. Agents actively opposing their masters was almost unheard of, and internal power struggles could fragment a clan. The Arashikage themselves had fallen victim to this, and it was still a sore spot between the Red Hand and the Arashikage. "Indeed."

*Why?* Snake Eyes signed. Scarlett translated.

"We were approached with an offer for a job. I think you know what it was. I thought it foolish and foolhardy to the point of suicide. My father, however, was still stupidly nursing resentment over the death of my youngest brother." The taller man's lips thinned. "My brother was _shinobi. _He knew the risks as well as we all do. He knew the reputation of your agent and his own skills. His death was his own fault, and my father had no right to reciprocate as he did. And if my father is dead and I am clan master…well, you were wronged, and I will accept the losses you've inflicted as your right."

"Fair enough." Tommy agreed.

*Lying?* Snake signed one-handed. Tommy shook his head.

"So, you won't pursue a vendetta. You said something about a goodwill gift?" Tommy folded his arms.

"Yes. It just so happens that our employer was terrified of retribution on your part should you discover his identity and requested protection of the sort only possible by lodging him in our compound as part of his contract. However." A unpleasant sort of grin. "My father signed that contract. Not me. And I don't like the man. I would have a blood claim on him for bringing about the death of my father…but from what I know of your past, Phoenix Master, you've far more of a claim to his death than I do."

Tommy raised an eyebrow. "There are quite a few people out there who don't like me and would spend a great deal of money on my ruin and death. Which one do you have?"

Aito turned, gestured to three of the agents behind him, and nodded. They bowed and slipped off. He turned back to face them. "He asks that we call him by an utterly ridiculous name. I'd prefer to just show you."

Okay. Now that was just curious. Tommy was about to demand a name, formalities be damned, when he heard something he hadn't heard in a very, very long time.

He froze.

It was a voice. It was muffled, presumably by a gag, but that didn't matter. He knew it too well to fail to place it. He snapped his gaze to the door barely six yards away, and when the three agents reappeared dragging a fruitlessly struggling man, he already knew who the captive was.

He took a long, deep breath. Calm. Calm. Another clan was watching.

A tall, muscular bald man was forced to his knees in front of Master Aito. Tommy heard Junko's heart rate accelerate behind him; she'd heard the man described many times, and she knew what her husband had gone through at his hands. The heart rate of every former Joe standing there also climbed, but they were nothing compared to how his own was pounding.

"Hello, Mindbender." Tommy managed to force his voice to stay level. "You can remove his gag. I'd like to know how in the name of Hell he's still alive. He got shot in the back by another of my old enemies years ago."

The gag was removed. Mindbender snarled and tried to lunge at the agent who peeled the duct tape off, and was promptly kicked firmly in the ribs.

"We had a _contract._ Your kind is supposed to be _honorable._"

"Your contract was with my father." Aito was smiling nastily. "He's dead. I don't like you, and I'd also like to keep my clan from being annihilated. I also know something of your past and believe that you deserve a very slow, painful death. I am guessing that there isn't a man on the planet more able or willing to provide that to you than Tomisaburo." He looked back at Tommy. "Of course, if you don't want him, I could probably arrange something myself. He's called me some very insulting names in languages he didn't think I knew over the last few weeks."

"It would be rude to turn down a gift." Tommy glared down at the kneeling man. "How in hell are you still alive? The Commander shot you."

"The Baroness shot you. I may not have your fancy ninja tricks, but low-profile body armor is also effective. And I found it…safer…when you and other ex-subjects of mine thought me dead. But I vowed revenge on all those who destroyed my lovely creation…and you in particular. Your DNA went into his creation, Storm Shadow. He was almost your…"

Tommy had him by the throat in a nanosecond, forgetting all about appearances. Minbender gagged, choked, and his eyes bulged slightly. Tommy squeezed harder, the world around him fading away into unimportance in the face of the feel of a trachea slowly giving way under his hands.

It was a hand on his shoulder and a voice in his ear that finally pulled him back to reality, just when Mindbender was turning a really lovely shade of purplish-blue and starting to twitch in that way that let you know their consciousness was starting to fade.

"…Tommy! Tommy!" It was Junko. "Tommy, let him go. This isn't the place."

He let her pull him off the semiconscious, choking scientist. He was breathing hard. The Hard Master would have been furious at him for losing it like that…but then the Hard Master had never lost years of his life to this bastard, never been in that hellspawned monstrosity called the brainwave scanner, never felt the pain drilling into his skull as he screamed until he lost his voice. The Hard Master had never been used to try and kill his best friend. The Hard Master had never spent years struggling to pull his mind back together again, clinging tenaciously to sanity in the face of more mental torment than one human should ever have to face.

"Sorry" He closed his eyes for a second.

"Don't be." Aito sounded unfazed. "I've heard the stories. There are some slights that go beyond unforgivable. Shall we shove him in the storage compartment of one of those impressive beasts you're flying?"

"We can handle him. Thank you."

Aito bowed slightly, at the angle that showed polite agreement. "Make it hurt." He paused. "I take it none of the children were harmed?"

"No." That was Shana. Generally, in inter-clan matters, only other clan masters would speak freely to a clan master without being spoken directly to first, but then Shana was more or less accepted as Snake's voice by most of the clans. "If they had been, we would not be having this conversation."

"I'd assumed as much."

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Back on the aircraft, heading back to their own home, Tommy felt the eyes of the others on him. It was Snake that broke the…well, stillness.

*Are you okay, Tommy?*

"Fine." Tommy sighed. "Just fine."

"He's lying." Taro informed them all of this calmly. Tommy glared down at him.

"You are not fine." Junko narrowed her eyes. "And I wouldn't need your tiny clone to tell me that."

"We all thought he was dead." Shana grimaced. "We saw his damn grave. We did an examination of his grave. There was a _skeleton _in that grave."

"Bastard probably killed someone an' stuck the poor pogue down there to keep his ass covered." Beach rumbled. "Hawk'll want him. You know that."

"I'm not sworn to obey Hawk anymore." Tommy's voice was sharper than he intended it to be.

*He doesn't deserve to live.* Snake's signs were unusually quick. *I remember…* A long pause. *Venom held me in that thing once. There is not enough pain in the world for what Mindbender did to Tommy.*

"Actually, ah'm inclined to agree." Beach Head's voice was a deep growl. "Jus' giving you a heads up."

"Who's Mindbender? What did he do to you?" Taro was looking up at Tommy with some concern.

"He's a bad man, and he hurt me long before you were born." Tommy sighed again. "I'll tell you more about it when you're older. Go back to sleep."

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The next chapter will be the last, and is already halfway written. Which means that HOLY SHIT I MIGHT FINISH A STORY.


	13. Chapter 13

Parts of this come from the more sadistic and vicious corners of my brain. You are warned.

Ten thousand geek points go to the one who can place both the children's book "Where's My Cow?" and tell me who reads it to his son every night at EXACTLY six o' clock sharp.

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The Arashikage were unusual amongst ninja clans. There were several reasons for this. For one, clan had a well-established history of taking in _gaijin, _non-Japanese outsiders. Snake Eyes hadn't been the first foreign student to train with the clan, though he was unquestionably the best. There were a few other clans who would train outsiders, but almost none let those students advance very far. Indeed, Snake might have very well been the first _gaijin_ student from any clan to rise to the rank of clan master.

The Arashikage were also unusual for the fact that nearly all of the active agents and both clan masters had served in the American military. There was, in fact, exactly one Arashikage agent who wasn't legally an American citizen and who had no military service to her name.

Junko had never been in the military. She'd never been a Joe. Her combat experience had all been of the sort one acquired in a dojo, occasional street fights, ninja apprentice training, and later through being very close to a man who collected enemies like some people collected postage stamps. The Russian mob, the Night Creepers, Cobra, several Yakuza families, high Russian military intelligence, a couple of ninja clans…Tommy had crossed them all at one point or another, and the only reason the CIA and FBI weren't on the list was that he currently took care of a great deal of their dirtier work.

When she'd first met him, his utter unconcern when asked about roughly ninety-nine percent of his enemies had stunned her. She'd already known that he was frighteningly skilled when it came to combat; she'd spent six years plotting the death of one Yakuza boss, and hadn't really expected to survive the mission. If she hadn't literally and purely by dumb luck crossed Tommy's path while fleeing for her life, she wouldn't have. Tommy had almost casually and with more than a little glee torn his way through six highly-trained and dangerous Yakuza hitmen in about seven seconds, and when he'd asked her if she was okay he hadn't even been sweating.

It wasn't long before she'd realized that Tommy's enemies didn't scare him simply because he knew that he was entire orders of magnitude better at what he did then they were. Quite frankly, his casual and somewhat frightening competence in the field of covert operations and gratuitous violence had been one of the things that first attracted her to him.

(Well, that and how good he looked when he took his shirt off. That was pretty high up on the list of reasons she'd first fallen in lust with him too. She'd afterwards fallen in love with him for reasons entirely unrelated to his abs and those eyes, but _damn _if the exterior wasn't still nice as hell to look at.)

It had been awhile before she'd been able to get him to talk much about himself; not until she'd after she'd managed to coax him into bed with her and they'd begun moving past "friends with benefits" and into deeper waters had he really opened up. But once he finally had, he'd seemed almost glad to have someone to talk to who wasn't a doctor, wasn't judging him, someone who just cared about him and wanted to listen.

She'd quickly learned that Tommy's past was a fascinating, impressive, terrifying, and sometimes heartbreaking story. And a great deal of it revolved around a black-ops American military group called G.I. Joe and the notorious terrorist organization called Cobra.

Cobra was spoken about in tones that dripped disdain. G.I. Joe, however, seemed to be a source of rather fond memories. A man Tommy only ever called by 'Snake Eyes' turned up often in whatever chapter of his life Tommy was talking about. An old Army buddy and sort of adopted brother, who'd trained with Tommy's family and whom Tommy still considered his best friend despite the fact that some of his more impressive scars had apparently resulted from vicious fights with this 'Snake Eyes.'

(Much later, upon actually meeting Snake Eyes, Junko had realized that both men considered each other brothers, that both men had tried very hard to kill one another more than once, and that both men were entirely and completely crazy. This last was actually almost a prerequisite for attaining any sort of skill as a ninja, so that was okay.)

Junko had met Thomas Arashikage when he'd been slowly recovering from having his memories painfully tampered with time and time again at the hands of a scientist on the payroll of Cobra Commander. There were a few people and events that Tommy rarely spoke of, even to her. His experiences in the brainwave scanner at the hands of one Doctor Mindbender were _way_ up on the list of Painful Events I'd Rather Not Talk About.

Not much could faze Tommy. But Mindbender…there were still deep scars behind the unflappable, sardonic exterior that his torment at Mindbender's hands had left, scars that only the people who knew him best really fathomed. And though she'd never met the man, anything and anyone who dared hurt her Tommy so badly instantly earned Junko's complete and abject hate.

Add trying to hurt her son to the mix, and Junko had a few ideas involving their captive that the Spanish Inquisitors would have approved of.

Taro and the twins, having staunchly refused to go back to sleep, were currently involved in a very deep discussion over whether or not Batman actually counted as a ninja. Terri was maintaining that he didn't, because a real ninja would just behead the Joker and get it over with. Sean was claiming that he did, though he obviously wasn't as good as any of the Arashikage. Taro was saying that he wasn't, claiming that bat-shaped shurikien "wouldn't work well". All three agreed that the Dark Knight would get his ass thoroughly kicked by any of their parents.

It was keeping them harmlessly occupied, which was good; Junko really didn't like to think about the sort of chaos her remarkably talented offspring and his two friends could cause with high-tech military equipment if they really put their minds to it. She'd lost enough sleep over the last four years preventing the fiery destruction of the entire Arashikage compound; anytime the three were quietly and harmlessly occupying themselves it was a good thing.

Tommy was on edge. He was putting up a façade of calm that would have fooled most people, but then she wasn't most people. He was tense, and even when he was speaking to someone there was still that edge of distance in his eyes. She scooted a little closer and leaned comfortingly against his side, but this normally infallible method of unwinding her man a few notches had no effect.

Actually, none of the others in the aircraft were fooled. Snake Eyes knew Tommy too well. Shana was too observant. And the big man wearing a tac vest, a muddy green balaclava and carrying four firearms that she could readily spot seemed to be the type who noticed _everything._

She'd heard them calling him 'Beach Head.' She'd heard about a Beach Head; the command Sergeant Major of G.I. Joe and senior DI. Legend at the Ranger stronghold of Fort Benning, and the boogyman of slacking recruits across America. From what she'd seen during the raid, all of what she'd heard about Beach Head's apparent indestrucability, downright incredible effectiveness in combat, singularly impressive vocabulary and gruff nature was true. Tommy had more than once referred to the man as "Sergeant Major Mudpit," apparently because deep, cold mud had been a regular fixture on the obstacle courses the Joe team had trained on.

Junko had once voiced the opinion that watching a couple dozen extremely fit men get wet and muddy sounded like a pretty good morning. Shana had promptly informed her that it lost a lot of charm when you were up at the "Ass crack of fucking dawn and getting yelled at by a psychotic Ranger and forced to do seventeen billion pushups in the goddamn mud." Junko, a morning person and a ninja, hadn't thought that sounded too bad but had refrained from further comments.

The psychotic Ranger in question, however, was currently asleep and snoring softly. She rested her chin on Tommy's shoulder. "You going to be okay?" She murmured the words so softly that no one else could hear; Tommy of course, did.

He sighed and finally leaned back against her a little bit. "Fine. It's just…"

"Bad memories?"

"Exactly." Another sigh. "I've planned out how I'd like to kill that bastard a thousand times…"

"…And none of it seems good enough now?"

A slight smile. "Precisely."

"You'll figure something out. I have a few ideas."

He turned his head slightly to look down at her. "Like?"

"Burn pieces off with acid, one bit at a time."

A long moment of silence. "Good, but I don't think we have any acid handy. Unless we drained the sulfuric from the battery on Billy's motorcycle."

"He might even donate it willingly if he knew what it was for." Billy hated Mindbender almost as much as Tommy did.

"True. I'm leaning towards progressive amputation at the moment, but he'd almost bleed out too quickly from that."

"You'll figure something out." She half-closed her eyes; Tommy was nice and warm, and the short nap she'd grabbed in the air before hadn't been nearly enough. "I know this might be impossible…but try not to let him upset you too much. You helped destroy his life's work, and you're going to kill him now. I hate seeing you upset and knowing I can't make it better."

His lips turned up slightly. "You do. Go to sleep."

She did.

Tommy elbowed her awake again as they were landing. Junko woke to find that her son had apparently crashed from the adrenaline rush of the clan confrontation and was using her lap as a pillow. She smiled and ruffled his hair fondly; he shifted but didn't wake up.

The twins were sitting beside Snake, playing some sort of complex game with small vaguely humanoid figures apparently manufactured from duct tape. The rest of the roll was lying on the seat beside them. Junko added 'children's toy' to her mental list of 'things duct tape is good for'.

Beach Head was looking on curiously as Sean reached for the tape again, tore of a bit, and rolled it into what was apparently supposed to be a sword for his duct-tape action figure. "The hell are they doing?"

Shana glanced over. "Playing."

"Ah can see that. With _tape?_"

Snake Eyes shrugged. *Keeps them quiet. Give yourself another-what was it? Seven months? -and you'll be wishing you could get silence so easily. And just so you know; you can't get a baby to be quiet by ordering it to. And if CoverGirl is anything like Shana, she'll get mad if you just buy some earplugs after the first week without sleep.*

Shana dug an elbow into Snake Eyes' ribs. "They're not having twins, Snake, so they'll actually be able to sleep sometimes. It won't be bad, Beach. Don't listen to him." A glare at Snake Eyes. "Look. Now you've scared Beach Head. He's going pale."

*He should be scared. He's going to have a child that's half him and half Covergirl. The kindergarten teacher better have good life insurance.* This earned another elbow in the ribs.

Tommy snickered. "You have to tell me when he or she starts learning to drive. I want videos. Do you know whether it's a boy or girl? Because if it's a girl, I'm going to need to get the forty-four magnum painted pink before her first birthday rolls around."

"Shuddup, all of ya, or so help me ah _will _shove my boot up your scrawny ninja butts." Beach scowled. "Courtney says no firearms until the tenth birthday, anyway."

It was as Snake Eyes and Beach were discussing with Shana whether or not a BB gun was an acceptable gift for a toddler and as Snake Eyes was fondly remembering the Daisy BB rifle he'd received for his sixth birthday that they finally touched down. There were a few moments of organized chaos as children were roused, equipment was gathered, and they piled out of the aircraft and back onto familiar home soil.

The other aircraft was unloading too; all the former Joe team members automatically straightened their spines as General Hawk hopped out of the aircraft. The aircraft powered down, and the pilot named Ace jumped out behind Junko.

As the noise of the engines faded, Tommy suddenly went still. Junko looked sideways at him, to find slightly worried shock written all over his face. He shot her a look that was downright pleadingly apologetic; Junko raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Tommy! Long time no see!" That was an unfamiliar female voice. Junko pivoted to find herself face to top-of-head with a woman in a flight suit identical to Ace's. The shorter woman grinned at Tommy, her expression _all _pleasure at seeing someone she hadn't seen in some time but knew _very _well. Junko knew that look

She slowly turned to eye her husband and narrowed her eyes.

"Taro." Tommy bent and picked up the boy. "This is Sherry. She's an old friend of mine, from _before _I met your lovely, wonderful mother whom I love very much. I've been good, by the way."

Shana was smiling wickedly. Snake Eyes was clearly grinning under his mask. Even the imposing General Hawk looked amused.

No matter how skilled and infamous a man was, there were a few things that terrified any human with a Y chromosome. An ex-lover and a current lover meeting, with him _right _there, was way up at the top of that list.

"He's a cutie." The short pilot beamed at Taro. "Looks like you."

"Thanks." Tommy was still shooting Junko glances out of the corner of his eye.

"So." Junko folded her arms. "You know my husband pretty well, hmm?"  
"And I think I'm going to go put my son down for a nap. Bye now." Tommy did an about face. "Sorry to run, General…I'll thank you in person later, but I've got some urgent parenting to do. Sherry, good to see you again, sorry to be rude, but I like keeping my balls."

He took off.

There was silence for a moment.

"Stop giving me that look." The short woman finally said. Her voice was still light. "Yes, I slept with him. It was years ago, and I was just in it for the hot ninja ass. We parted on good terms, and I'm not going to try and move in on him again. You don't have to do anything horribly pointy to me. I'm not stupid."

Junko suddenly smiled. "It is a pretty spectacular ass."

"And the worst part is that he _knows _it."

"True. Very true."

"Damn good in bed, though."

"Again, very true." Junko sighed. "And again…he knows it. Makes kicking him out onto the couch extremely difficult sometimes."

General Hawk grimaced. Snake Eyes pinched the bridge of his nose. Sherry laughed, and Junko just smiled.

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Doctor Mindbender had made a career out of being a slippery bastard. He'd worked for Cobra Commander and against G.I. Joe. He'd painfully altered the memory of a certain ninja master multiple times, and despite the fact that the conditioning of the Brainwave Scanner was supposed to be almost impossible to fight, the damned man had broken through it multiple times. Damned annoying. And seeing as Storm Shadow could carve someone up with the precision of a surgeon but with much less altruistic purposes and a much more terminal end result, damned dangerous too.

He'd cloned a fully functioning human being from the blended genetics of some of the greatest warriors and leaders in history, including that annoying, dangerous ninja master. He'd sided with his cloned masterpiece against the whole world.

And he'd lost. Serpentor had been killed. Mindbender, who despite a well-developed sense of narcissism was not entirely without a sense of self preservation, had carefully faked his own death. When you counted Cobra Commander, Destro, G.I. Joe, and an entire ninja clan amongst your enemies it was smarter to appear dead.

But he'd never been able to let it go. So he'd hired a ninja clan. But those damned backstabbing sneaky bastards had turned him over to the Arashikage, and now the outlook wasn't very good. Mindbender had no illusions that he was likely to worm himself out of this mess; he'd been sort of counting on having an entire heavily-armed ninja clan between him and the certain pointy, prolonged death that awaited him in the hands of the Arashikage.

He must have hired defective ninja, or that bastard Aito had been behind this…the man had been eying his neck and fingering a knife in that same hard-eyed, long-suffering, calculating sort of way that used to make him nervous around Storm Shadow.

He'd almost think that the man understood Italian, Spanish, and Russian, all three of which Mindbender had called him some very unflattering names in. But he'd only ever spoken Japanese or English, and had never so much as blinked when Mindbender insulted him to his face in another language.

The whatever-the-hell this aircraft was called hit a patch of turbulence. Mindbender swore as he was jolted against the unforgiving sides of the cargo locker he'd been stuffed into. The locker was secured tightly; he'd tried to ram it open with his shoulder multiple times. This had just gotten a foot slammed into the other side of the door, jolting him painfully. Billy's completely-too-gleeful voice had ordered Mindbender to be quiet before he opened the thing and broke a few minor joints to shut the doctor up.

Little traitor.

It was a long, uncomfortable, flight. The discomfort was almost welcome, though, because otherwise he would have had nothing to distract him from speculation on exactly what would happen to him when the locker opened.

His throat still ached from Storm Shadow's chokehold. Mindbender almost wished that the ninja's wench hadn't convinced him to let go. Storm Shadow had had years to nurse his admittedly justified grudge. Mindbender knew for a fact that the ninja master was capable of inflicting a great deal of pain on a person when he _hadn't _had a decade to plan what he'd do to them.

Still, thoughts crept in…thoughts depressingly full of blood and pain. _His _blood. Mindbender clamped firmly down on such thoughts, setting himself instead to try and figure out a way to worm out of this fix as well.

Money? Ha. There wasn't enough money in the world. Fighting? Again, not a chance. He'd get taken apart in seconds, though if it came down to it that might be preferable to giving them a chance to draw things out. Escape? Difficult, but if an opportunity presented itself the best option at the moment.

Perhaps he'd simply be taken into custody. General Hawk had been there, after all…Hawk was one of the only ones who could stop an Arashikage ninja fully bent on a vengeance-killing. Federal prison would be a breeze to escape from. Mindbender cheered slightly. That seemed likely; perhaps he could even manipulate things a bit towards that end.

It was a long time before the strange plane finally began descending and at last came to rest. Mindbender waited tensely, but no one came. The locker didn't open.

Minutes ticked by, and then and hour. At last there was a metallic rasping sort of noise. The locker door opened; Mindbender squinted as light suddenly assaulted his eyes.

Seven people were standing there. Seven no-longer masked people. General Hawk was nowhere to be seen. _Shit…_

"Hello, Mindbender." Storm Shadow's voice was a low, dangerous purr. "It seems that Hawk and the others considerate enough to come to our aid must be off. However, you're staying right here with us. I've owed you for a very long time."

Shit.

"And is Hawk aware of this? He wouldn't be happy if you killed his prisoner now, would he?"

"Hawk was never here." Scarlett smiled thinly. "Can't take a prisoner if you weren't present."

Snake Eyes signed something. Storm Shadow smiled, a smile so completely cold that the hair on the back of Mindbender's neck stood on end. "Thank you for the offer, brother, but no. He's _mine. _Any bits that come off are going to be because _I_ cut them off."

_Shitshitshit…_

"What if I want a piece of him?" The woman at Storm Shadow's side…Junko, who according to what intel he'd scrounged up seemed to be almost as hard to kill as the ninja she'd married, was worryingly eying his groin and toying with a small knife. "I don't _like _people who hurt you and threaten Taro."

Storm Shadow seemed to consider. "Maybe a _little _piece. Only because it's you."

She smiled nastily.

"What about me?" Billy sounded hurt. "You aren't the only one who has issues with the guy."

A sigh. "Fine."

Jinx narrowed her eyes. "I'm Arashikage by blood. He tortured my cousin. I've got a claim on a piece of him too."

"A _little _piece."

"That's okay." Jinx smiled sweetly. "He'll still miss it."

Signs from Snake Eyes. Storm Shadow sighed again. "_Fine. _Everyone gets a go. Keep it painful but fairly nonvital. _I _get to kill him."

Mindbender swallowed hard. "Now, let's be reasonable about this…Zartan is still alive…And you seem to be doing pretty well, so there was no permanent harm done."

"Shut up. The Hard Master didn't want me to kill Zartan. _You, _on the other hand..." Another cold, deadly smile. Storm Shadow's arm blurred, and a fist cracked into Mindbender's temple. There was an explosion of pain, and everything went black.

When he came to, his head was aching. His arms were wrenched backwards around something solid, and his wrists were secured tightly enough to cause pain. He tugged, and the pain increased as unforgiving strips of plastic cut into his skin. Bark was rough against his back, and there were birds happily chirruping nearby. He opened his eyes.

He was zip-tied. To a small pine tree which was apparently located in the middle of a dense mountain forest. The tree seemed completely unfazed by his struggles. He craned his neck around as far as possible and just caught glimpses of buildings through the trees, down the hillside a bit and maybe a quarter-mile distant.

He didn't see anyone around. He wriggled; he wasn't going to be able to slip the restrains, but maybe he could wear through the plastic strips on his wrists? He seemed to mostly just be flaking bark off the tree.

"He wakes." The voice was _right in his goddamn ear. _Mindbender whipped his head around to find Billy's face just inches from his own. The young ninja grinned. "_Sensei _will be pleased…you've been out for a few hours. He hit you _hard. _I should go tell him you're conscious again."

"William." Mindbender forced himself to keep his voice calm. "I will make you a wealthy man. I served your father loyally for years…"

The air blurred. A foot slammed into his ribs. Mindbender felt a rib snap.

"Cobra Commander is not my father." Billy said coolly. "You tortured the man who rescued me, cared for me, and taught me to look after myself. You tortured _me. _You took away the first person who'd ever given a damn what happened to me and reprogrammed him to try and kill me and my friends. And then you ordered my little brother kidnapped and threatened to do the same to him. And you _dare _try to buy me off?" A disgusted snort. "Whatever S_ensei _does to you, you've earned a thousand times over. So shut up, or I'll cut out your tongue."

Another kick, in precisely the same place as the first. Mindbender yelped. Billy grinned, and did it again.

"Been wanting to do that for _years._" He turned on his heel and stalked off; through the smarting of his ribs, the ache in his throat whenever he swallowed, and the throbbing of the bruise on this temple, Mindbender still managed to reflect that someone with a metal leg should _not _be able to move that quietly, however advanced the technology was.

It wasn't ten minutes after the young man had vanished that there was another voice _right behind him god damn it he hated ninja._ Mindbender gave up subtlety and pulled desperately at the bonds on his wrists. Maybe if he broke his thumbs…

"Oh, that's not going to help." Storm Shadow's voice was only inches behind his ear. "They're far too tight. Besides, even if you got free, you'd have to run five miles to reach town. And we'd catch you _long _before you made it. In fact…Snake, why don't you break his thumbs just so he can try to make a break for it?"

"I…" Mindbender cut off with a hiss of pain as someone with a grip like a vise wrenched his thumbs backwards. There was a horrible crunching sort of noise, and Mindbender whimpered.

"Seems he's not so keen on making a run for it after all. Jinx, I said no knives. That's _my _job."

"Oh, come on." Jinx sounded disgruntled. "Me and Junko were going to feed him his testicles."

Mindbender opened his mouth to protest. Three feet caught his ribs simultaneously.

"No. Knives."

"Fine." Jinx said sulkily. She stalked around to stand in front of him, glaring down. She was such a tiny thing, really…Mindbender had thought more than once before that she looked more like a doll than a warrior.

Then she suddenly moved, and an axe kick slammed full force into his groin. Petite or not, she had a _hell _of a kick. Mindbender shrieked; he could actually _taste _pain.

"That works too." Jinx sounded a bit more cheerful. "He's all yours. I feel better now."

"Good. Keep the students away from the forest for awhile, will you?"

"Sword drills until they pass out. Got it." Jinx turned and trotted away, looking pleased with herself.

"If you're going to kill me, just do it." Mindbender groaned. His groin was still hurting. "You want to get even. I've got it. Just kill me and have done with it."

"Even? Oh, I don't think so." Storm Shadow finally paced into view. He crossed his arms, scowling down at Mindbender. "To get even with you, I'd have to find where you're keeping that machine of yours. And then I'd have to strap you into it, and leave you there for a _week, _while it painfully ripped away everything you knew and cared about and replaced it all with lies. And I'd have to _keep _doing that, for _years, _and force you to serve me as a brain-dead slave. I'd have to watch you try to kill the people you'd once cared about. Then I _might _be able to call us even. What I'm going to do to you now won't even come close. This isn't getting even; this is vengeance. You've had it coming for a long, long time."

Mindbender assessed the situation. There were at least two extremely angry and probably well-armed ninja near to him. He was tied up, injured, and unarmed. He had no backup, there was no chance of buying this particular group of ninja off, and they all had reason to be personally put out with him.

_I'm going to die. Shit…_He'd wriggled out of tight spots before, faked his own death before, but this…this went beyond any sort of bad situation he'd ever experienced before.

"I was just doing my job!" He tugged at the bonds again, but quickly gave up as his thumbs throbbed. "I was just doing what I was ordered to!"

"I really don't care." Storm Shadow glanced off Mindbender's left. "Hmm? Oh, yes. Snake, Junko…if you want a piece of him, get it now."

A very sharp knife just barely pricked the skin of his neck. Mindbender tried not to swallow.

"I thought you said no knives?" Mindbender croaked.

"Well, yes. But Snake Eyes called one of your ears, and it's his right as my blood brother. And if it will make Junko happy, I'm willing to give up a few square inches of scalp."

Mindbender whimpered.

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It was a long time before a bloodied, battered Mindbender had moved past screaming to pained whimpers. Snake Eyes had quietly slid away after he'd put in his two cents, and so had Junko, who could read Tommy well enough to know when he didn't want to be disturbed.

The Hard Master hadn't approved of seeking vengeance, and that was the only reason that Zartan still lived. But this wasn't for his uncle; this was for _him._

Some people claimed that violence didn't solve anything. Tommy highly disagreed with this. If nothing else, this particular violence was making himfeel a lot better about some very deep scars.

Mindbender's jaw was long since shattered. Tommy remembered the screaming agony of the Brainwave scanner, and drove his fist into it again. Mindbender, who was only semiconscious, sagged limply in his bonds.

"You are not passing out." Tommy hissed. "You kept me conscious in that thing for days at a time. If you pass out, your hand is coming off, and I'll even cauterize it so that you don't bleed out on me."

The battered man straightened with some effort. "Please." He whispered the word. "Please…just kill me."

Tommy scowled and drew back a fist again, but paused, listening. He smiled abruptly and drew a knife. "You know," He said conversationally, "there are wild boars in this forest. They're quite vicious, and they'll eat just about anything. They're quite fond of meat when they can get it, as a matter of fact. And it so happens that I hear a pack of them not too far off. They're heading this way. They probably smell your blood."

Mindbender whimpered. Tommy smiled even more widely. "However, I don't want to give the pleasure of killing you to a pack of wild pigs. So…"

His hand flashed. Mindbender shrieked as steel sliced through cloth and skin and muscle; Tommy calmly wiped blood from the blade of his fighting knife before sheathing it again.

"That's a fatal wound." He informed the gutted doctor. "But you're a doctor. You knew that already. You'll also know that belly wounds kill slowly and painfully. If you're lucky, you'll be dead by the time the pigs get here. If not…" He shrugged. "Either way, I think this a rather fitting way for you to go. Goodbye, Mindbender. If there is a Hell, I hope you burn on the lowest level of it."

Tommy shinnied up a tree and settled himself on a comfortable branch.

By the time the snuffling pack of wild boars found their way to the tree where Mindbender was tied, the doctor was almost gone. Tommy could hear the weak fluttering of a heart giving up, from either shock or blood loss. Maybe both.

Wild boars were vicious animals. With the scent of blood in their nostrils, they went almost as mad as sharks in a feeding frenzy.

Tommy watched for a long time before finally slipping quietly back towards the compound.

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Junko was sitting on the edge of Taro's bed and correcting mistakes as he sounded out "Where's My Cow?" to himself when she heard the door to their suite open. She cocked her head; there were a few minutes of silence, and then she heard the shower turn on.

Taro reluctantly tucked in, she headed for her and Tommy's bedroom.

Tommy was sitting on the bed, eyes closed and legs crossed. She settled herself next to him.

"You okay?" She asked quietly.

"Yes and no." Tommy opened his eyes and curled an arm around her waist. She leaned into him. "The memories seeing that man brought back…" A shudder. "Not pleasant. But he's dead, and Taro is safe, and you're safe, and I'm safe." A slight smile. "I have to admit…it felt good."

"Vengeance does." Junko could still clearly remember every vivid detail of driving her knife through the ribcage of the yakuza boss who'd murdered her parents. "Now get over here and let me give you some better memories."

Tommy smiled and kissed her.


End file.
